Since we released X2O in October, we've been monitoring the blogosphere to see what else is out there that does something similar. It seems like there are a few plugins and standalone apps that are doing the same general thing — deriving AS3 code from a data model. But, as of yet, I haven't been able to find a framework that can compete in the ways that we're trying to excel in.

Farata Systems has a pretty impressive product called Clear Data Builder (CDB), which generates code to integrate Flex-Java apps. It recently launched an upgrade to CDB plugin for Eclipse that provides "CRUD generation without the need to use SQL." This is something we're glad to see, and we're hoping succeeds, as it is also one of the cornerstones of X2O. But, like all the other AS3 code generators, CDB still requires you to understand, adopt, and use other technology outside of the comfy confines of the Flex framework (namely Java/JDBC).

With X2O, we're trying to do something perhaps a bit more drastic: We'd like people to forget that there's things going on outside the Flash platform.

X2O is .NET/SQLServer based, but, more importantly, it just doesn't matter. In the end, it's secure, remote web services that could just as easily have been written with Java, PHP, or Ruby. But that's simply not the point. We want you to be shielded from anything other than AS3 programming. And, that's the philosophy we've taken while developing the X2O web client, the documentation, and our videos.