Mozilla's Prism hits 1.0, gets new goodies
Mozilla's "Web application as a desktop application" service Prism has hit version 1.0 (download Prism). On Friday, the company released it with its own standalone site, and an updated API that lets developers tack on Prism-specific features to their Web applications.
This version also comes with a few niceties like tray icon notifications, application-specific settings, and automatic updates. As with Prism for Firefox, you're also now able to clear private data like user names and passwords, along with any browsing history. What's neat in Prism's case is that it's just for that application, and not all the sites you've visited in other Prism instances.
It's safe to assume Prism will eventually make its way as a built-in feature of the next Firefox release. Competitor Chrome already has a feature that lets you do this on any site; however it does not offer things like taskbar and badge notifications.
As a refresher, here's how its Firefox version works. The video for the standalone desktop app can be found here.
Josh Lowensohn writes for Webware.com, CNET's blog about Web applications and services. E-mail Josh, or follow him on Twitter at http://www.twitter.com/Josh. 
A Prism definition can be copied between computers, too; so I can make a Prism shortcut for my home server's Transmission web interface, and chuck it onto my other two computers too.
You can set a window size that will always be in use for that application, so your Meebo window will be the size of your buddy list and IM windows, and your Facebook instance will be larger to deal with the feed. It saves more than 30 pixels on browser chrome; it saves a lot of screen space because each application is in a window that's exactly the right size.
Also, the people who can't see an advantage should READ THE ARTICLE!:
an updated API that lets developers tack on Prism-specific features to their Web applications.
tray icon notifications, application-specific settings,
IE's favorites have been shortcuts for like 15 years. You could change the icon on them to and put them on your desktop... This isn't new people.
I've been using the app since it was known as WebRunner, and, as one commenter previously stated, the underlying value of Prism is that it creates separate instances of an isolated browser session. This means that I can have multiple accounts of Gmail, Remember the Milk, or any number of other web apps open at the same time, since user credentials are not passed between sessions. I cannot do this within Internet Explorer or Firefox. I can have multiple Prism apps open, and still be opening and closing Firefox to add or update extensions, etc., without affecting the Prism sessions.
My experience with Google Chrome's implementation of this leads me to believe that even Chrome does not accomplish this, because I can only be logged into one account at a time. Apparently Chrome apps share user credentials, although I may be wrong on this understanding.
Its stated at least twice above in the comments, and I'm fairly certain in the article (if not then on the website?)
- by bcgreen24 May 12, 2009 4:35 PM PDT
- I agree with the majority of other posters...this is pretty much pointless.
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