OpenAMF vs Flash MX's internal support for web services.

Hi all,

    I'm investigating the use of Flash as a rich client interface for an 
enterprise application. I still haven't decided between (1) Flash + Remoting 
or (2) Flex / Laszlo, but in order to better understand my choices, I would 
like to understand the concept of remoting a bit better. Hence the following 
questions:

(1) Why would I use the server side Flash Remoting component (or OpenAMF)
to talk to a _web service_ when this can be done _directly_ from Flash MX
PROFESSIONAL (if I understand correctly)?

(2) If I can talk to web services without Flash Remoting of OpenAMF, why
would I ever be interested in using remoting? To make accessible normal Java
objects which don't have web services interfaces? Because the AMF protocol 
is more efficient than XML over HTTP?

(3) Can I implement method level (or object level) security when using Flash
MX web services / Flash remoting / OpenAMF? Does OpenAMF have some sort of 
gateway that understands sessions so I don't need to keep checking access 
rights inside every method call?

(4) What are the limitations / advantages of OpenAMF vs. Flash Remoting or 
the built in
web services integration functionality of Flash MX?

(5) Can I construct a UI using Flash + OpenAMF which looks as professional 
and integrates as well with server side components as I could with Flex? Is 
the Flash IDE set up for UI design or is it more suited to animations?

Thanks in advance for any assistance that you may be able to offer.

Regards,
Dominic Cioccarelli




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