Blaze of Glory
Apollo is a new product being released by Adobe. In their words it's a "cross-OS runtime that allows developers to leverage their existing web development skills (Flash, Flex, HTML, Ajax) to build and deploy desktop RIA’s."
The idea is pretty interesting. Basically, we've been hacking web browsers to run Rich Internet Applications. Adobe has decided to create a stand-alone client that'll natively run RIA's. As of now, the alpha was released just a month ago, so it's all pretty new, and it seems to be gaining a lot of attention (e.g. TechCrunch).
For some time now I've been thinking we needed a "super browser" that was built to run all these Internet apps. So I was really excited about this news. Apollo will grant Internet apps much of the same functionality of a regular desktop application, such as the ability to directly access the user's file system.
But then it occurred to me... if Apollo will make these Internet applications run just like a desktop application... why not make it a desktop application in the first place? The beauty of current RIA's is that you can quickly and easily open up a browser window and immediately have access to the application. With Apollo, you'd have to open a separate program, just like a desktop app.
"But you can use Internet technologies (Flash, Flex, HTML, Ajax) to build the apps". Maybe it's just me but I prefer using current desktop technologies (Java, C#, C++) to develop applications. Actually, the main reason I like Ruby on Rails is because it makes web programming more akin to desktop programming (with methods, data objects, etc).
"It'll allow data to live both locally and 'in the cloud'". First off, what's with this whole "in the cloud" business? Just say "in a server somewhere" instead. It'll save people confusion. But back to my point, current apps also have the ability to take advantage of external data, so I don't see anything special here.
I don't think Apollo will be very useful until a web browser is actually built on top of Apollo. That'll be the day! If they're smart, the browser will be able to directly run Apollo apps; no having to install or open different programs. Just type the address and boom: you got a full blown app running right in the browser.
But until then, if all Apollo does is desktopify my Internet apps, it doesn't seem very useful.
The idea is pretty interesting. Basically, we've been hacking web browsers to run Rich Internet Applications. Adobe has decided to create a stand-alone client that'll natively run RIA's. As of now, the alpha was released just a month ago, so it's all pretty new, and it seems to be gaining a lot of attention (e.g. TechCrunch).
For some time now I've been thinking we needed a "super browser" that was built to run all these Internet apps. So I was really excited about this news. Apollo will grant Internet apps much of the same functionality of a regular desktop application, such as the ability to directly access the user's file system.
But then it occurred to me... if Apollo will make these Internet applications run just like a desktop application... why not make it a desktop application in the first place? The beauty of current RIA's is that you can quickly and easily open up a browser window and immediately have access to the application. With Apollo, you'd have to open a separate program, just like a desktop app.
"But you can use Internet technologies (Flash, Flex, HTML, Ajax) to build the apps". Maybe it's just me but I prefer using current desktop technologies (Java, C#, C++) to develop applications. Actually, the main reason I like Ruby on Rails is because it makes web programming more akin to desktop programming (with methods, data objects, etc).
"It'll allow data to live both locally and 'in the cloud'". First off, what's with this whole "in the cloud" business? Just say "in a server somewhere" instead. It'll save people confusion. But back to my point, current apps also have the ability to take advantage of external data, so I don't see anything special here.
I don't think Apollo will be very useful until a web browser is actually built on top of Apollo. That'll be the day! If they're smart, the browser will be able to directly run Apollo apps; no having to install or open different programs. Just type the address and boom: you got a full blown app running right in the browser.
But until then, if all Apollo does is desktopify my Internet apps, it doesn't seem very useful.
posted at
12:24 AM
2 Comments:
I think you're missed a crucial point. With Apollo you can easily create a basic application that will work on Windows, Mac and Linux.
They are desktop applications though, simple lightweight software. Sure you can do that with Java, C++ and C# but for the kind of apps their aiming for it would be slower and more costly. If you just need a quick simple web-enabled app then the cost of entry is much lower.
By
Kevin Cannon, at 2:56 AM
@Kevin
Hey, thanks for the comment Kevin.
If I'm looking into creating cross-platform desktop applications, I'd rather use something like REALbasic. It's been around longer, it's easy to use, and the executables it creates are stand-alone; they don't require a separate runtime download.
I agree with your second point. For someone looking into creating a simple web app that required the extra functionality, then Apollo would be well suited. Otherwise, stick to the broswer.
By
Anthony, at 3:37 AM
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