MAX India?
23 03 2008The MAX 2008 conference dates have been announced and it seems like an Indian edition is again overlooked. It all looked very promising when Ted Patrick blogged Bangalore as a possible location for next year but turns out those plans were abandoned for whatever reason.
I think this is a mistake on Adobe’s part and am happy Vivek Kumar opened it up for debate on his blog. India and its developer community are a huge potential market for Adobe. Just look at the growth of the Flex community and what this trend indicates.
http://raghuonflex.wordpress.com/2007/09/03/flex-india-is-going-great-guns/
Why do I care? I’ve just returned from my 8th trip to India, have visited some of the most rural parts of South India and been to modern IT hubs like Gurgaon, Haryana. What I noticed is two things: Microsoft has a huge footprint throughout the country and to computer science graduates its looked at as the de facto direction to take for success as an IT professional. Those working with Adobe technology are often stuck in dead-end jobs in large corporations, mostly doing outsourced work for the US market, where creativity is seen as an obstacle rather than an asset.
Its not just about a conference like MAX, in many ways India is not taken seriously and what bugs me most is that a lot of developers seem to have become pragmatic and defeatist about this fact. It takes a company to dare take the initiative and invest in change. Adobe has an opportunity and needs to step up to the plate, failing that it takes little for Microsoft to start actively pushing out their technology to developers and tip the balance of the current ‘outsourcing ecosystem’.
I want Indian developers, not just the lucky few who can afford to freelance, to have the same opportunities I got when I got started — get inspired, get involved and build up a strong community. Adobe can help make this happen.
A population of over one billion, a potential IT market of some hundred thousands, don’t miss out and act now.
Read the discussion here
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Peter,
I had posted my thoughts after Vivek’s post. Its different perspective, you might want to read it.
Dont know why Adobe dropped it, it was indeed mentioned by Ted, i remember now.
Dont want to add more heat by saying - could it be because of the difference between Adobe India and USA? Or some of reasons I posted
[...] Peter Elst also joined the discussion and expressed a very important point that I totally agree with … Adobe has an opportunity and needs to step up to the plate, failing that it takes little for Microsoft to start actively pushing out their technology to developers and tip the balance of the current ‘outsourcing ecosystem’. Its just a matter of time for Microsoft to push more money into it and start promoting Silverlight. I firmly believe Adobe needs to be ahead of the curve here. [...]
Hi Peter,
Thanks for posting this and i am happy to see some waves around, hope to see some results. And yes even i too saw Ted post but was expecting to see results!!.
vivek
Peter, Vivek
Thanks for making the noise. Including me, there is a strong community who does projects and develop products for the global market. I have asked Peter and almost all the Flash Evangelists about this question, but no answer. I think one major international event which I can see happening now is the RIA Architect Summit in bangalore (April 3) where Ben Forta and James Ward are coming in. But as everybody else, I expected ‘MAX’ to be in India this year atleast.
Is it that Adobe India is not taking initiative? I asked this question to the Adobe India guys, but they say as always ‘we are trying’, ‘we are listening’
I have been to MAX, when Macromedia conducted it in bangalore. Do Adobe knows India exists?
[...] MAX In India? Happy to hear some noise from Vivek and Peter. I am new to the community and new to publishing my views to the world. I have seen Abdul’s [...]
[...] 23rd 2008 11:02am [-] From: peterelst.com [...]