What is the best approach to develop a video chat web application in Java? Flex or JMF?

Currently we are in the design phase of an application that will allow two users to communicate with each other using chat and video (with audio), the application is a web application that currently is a java web app with Spring and hibernate, but we want to incorporate video and chat between two users and we are evaluating the options to developing it, so far we ha开发者_如何学编程ve two choices, either develop a Flex UI that leverages its video and chatting capabilities through Red5 or something like that and communicates with the Spring app using BlazeDS or a completely java based approach using (maybe) JMF and/or applets to achieve the video and chat interaction. The question is, which would be the most scalable approach to develop such an application?, what would be the approach that is the least intrusive from the end user perspective? Thanks for taking the time to answer this question!

I wouldn't use a Java web app. Not many people still use Java on the front end, plus, it wouldn't be supported by any kind of mobile/TV technology. Flash is.

I've been doing enterprise level Flex applications for years now. Flex has been the tech of choice for some of the most important financial tools in recent history. Flex is extremely scalable and robust, so long as you code it to be. It's a rapid rich internet application framework made to be used with UIs. It's easy to start, but many gets 'caught up' with just creating the UI without thinking of proper architecture (MVC and the likes). You should read up on application frameworks as well like Parsley, Robotlegs and Swiz.

Plus, there are a lot of resources at your disposal online to implement that simple video + chat functionality that you want using whatever server side tech. I'm not sure if BlaseDS does streaming video however, Red5 does do it, but I'm not sure about how maintained that project is anymore. You might want to look into Wowza server, I've had good experiences with it.

Sorry I don't have time to give a full answer, but here is my quick 2 cents...

In my experience, Flex is currently the best platform for most "enterprise-level" front-end apps. While it may or may not be better then (insert any competing technology) from a technology stand point, I find Flex to make the most business sense. I find that Flex allows us to develop applications quicker, target more devices/environments, and in general reach a larger market, then any competing technology.

Hope this helps, and good luck!