The days of flash with a web services backend are over.  The future is here.  I remember back in the day when we created macromedia flash UIs like realtycomposer.com or club90.com and I had to convince everyone that the best implementation for the application is a web service. 

 

Using vector was the bleeding edge, using .net was the bleeding edge.  Now they've come together, as I knew they would.  It's now more important than ever to maintain a single application schema across all tiers.  By maintaining a single schema, each developer gains the type definitions without having to rethink the object.  Using WinFS as the database, the object store, and the business layer, you can call different resources on demand and present them in a rich 3d UI.

 

It combines the workflow of adobe after effects, macromedia flash, and visual studio.net...  It's the release of WinFS and WinFX that are going to change the way we develop our applications.  But don't get me wrong, the applications built on top of these two technologies are already shaping the playing field and Sparkle IMO, is at the top.

If you have not seen it in action, you gotta check this out!  You can skip past the chatting about 5 or 10 minutes in.

 

If you haven't seen WinFS in action yet, you have to check it out!  You can skip to the 14 minute marker.

 

And if you want to see an app built in WinFX - http://www.microsoft.com/max/  install it and I'll share some photos.

If this doesn't shock you, I don't know what will...