Even the Mozilla Foundation, makers of the popular Firefox Web browser, thinks it's time to break out of the browser.
On Thursday, developers from Mozilla announced a project called Prism that will, along with other "experiments," make Web applications better resemble desktop programs.
The idea with Prism is that people can integrate their favorite Web applications with their desktop operating systems.
For example, a person could access Web-based programs Gmail or Facebook from the applications menu of Mac OS or Windows. Or they could create an icon for Facebook on their desktop that launches in its own window.
Prism is an open-source alternative to AIR, or Adobe Integrated Runtime, software for making desktop applications with Web technologies. AIR is set for a 1.0 release in the first half of next year; there are already a number of early applications that use AIR.
Mozilla Labs is trying to merge the worlds of Web applications with desktop operating systems because people are relying more on Web applications yet they are poorly integrated with desktop applications.
"While traditionally users have interacted mostly with desktop applications, more and more of them are using Web applications. But the latter often fit awkwardly into the document-centric interface of Web browsers," according to the announcement on Mozilla Labs' blog posted on Thursday.
Mozilla now has prototypes of Prism running on Windows with early versions on Mac and Linux under way.
Future versions include offline access to information with Firefox 3 and three-dimensional graphics.
Adobe tries to beat "proprietary" rap
The goal is to let developers use existing Web development technologies to write applications that take advantage of Prism. Adobe AIR, too, lets developers use standard Web development tools to create programs that run on AIR.
"Prism will allow new innovative applications on the Web to integrate into the user's desktop experience without any additional development effort for the applications' creators," wrote Alex Faaborg, the user experience designer who is working on Firefox 3.
Mozilla Labs is touting the fact that Prism is open-source software whereas Adobe's AIR is proprietary and closed source.
Mike Chambers, senior manager of developer relations at Adobe, took issue with Mozilla's characterization of AIR and wondered how Prism would differ from AIR.
"I guess the thing I found odd was Mozilla appears to be building something very similar to Adobe AIR (which is fine and cool), but somehow it is inherently good when Mozilla does it, and inherently evil when Adobe does it," Chambers wrote in his blog.
During Adobe's Max conference earlier this month, Adobe Chief Software Architect Kevin Lynch said that he expected that somebody else would create something similar to AIR. "I think that AIR is positioned early to really be a leader...kind of like Flash was positioned early as the interactive multimedia leader," Lynch said last month.
Readers responding to my Friday morning column seem to agree that Adobe has come up with an interesting wrinkle with its Adobe Integrated Runtime technology.
Check out the vigorous discussion going on in the Talkback section of the piece. At the same time, I've received a ton of private e-mail. One, in particular, stood out. The author, who asked to remain unidentified, described the goings-on at a small financial services firm where many of the developers enjoy close relationships with Microsoft.
Within the last couple of months, there's been a shift away from .Net for front-end development in favor of the Salesforce platform (which has begun using Adobe Flex--and likely also will use AIR in the future).
"Like you, having watched "Microsoft killers" come and go over the last 23 years (starting with the Apple Mac and going from there), I have often been dubious of such pronouncements. However I actually think that Adobe may have come up with a killer platform. When I see a group like my friend's turn their back on a platform they have been working on for five years in favor of Adobe's technology--then I am guessing that Adobe might be on to something."
Ultimately, he said, it came down to considering the relative ease of adoption (or should that be "difficulty" of adoption) of the competing technologies.
"It is a damn nightmare getting a standalone application installed on the client side. It is simply much easier to install browser-based applications using technology such as Flex than any technology that Microsoft has so far come up with. I still have nightmares over failed .Net installs that would take out other client applications when trying to install our own software in my previous job."
It's always dicey to extrapolate from a small sample of e-mails or public posts--and I'm not going to try now. But I'm hearing a lot of stories in a similar vein. What about you folks out there?
Attendees at Adobe's Max developer conference check out Thermo, the code name for a design tool that enables designers to construct Web applications without writing code.
(Credit: Martin LaMonica/CNET News.com)CHICAGO--Adobe Systems, one of the largest providers of packaged software, is aggressively expanding into online services as it seeks to garner more revenue from the Web.
At its Max developer conference here on Tuesday, company executives detailed collaboration and document workflow Web services scheduled for release in the next year.
The company also showed off Thermo, the code name for a new tool aimed at letting designers, rather than programmers, build rich Internet applications.
Adobe's strategy is to introduce services as complements to its existing desktop and server applications. It is still experimenting with different business models to charge for services, which could include shared revenue from advertising or subscriptions, executives said.
"We're looking at how monetization of software in the services world changes and Adobe needs to change with that," said Chief Software Architect Kevin Lynch on Monday.
During a keynote on Tuesday, Lynch said that Adobe is still "in the early days" of offering services but the company intends to offer more.
... Read moreCHICAGO--The crux of Adobe Systems' platform strategy is in AIR.
AIR, or Adobe Integrated Runtime, is a download that lets Web applications run on a desktop. With AIR applications, people can work offline and drag and drop items like graphics or text between Web and desktop applications.
AIR is still in beta, but Adobe and many other software developers are already building applications on it. For Adobe's platform business, AIR gives the company a way to extend its investments in Web documents and Web development tools onto desktops across different operating systems.
Rather than compete head-on against Microsoft and Java vendors for developer interest, Adobe's focus is on Web technologies and services, chief software architect Kevin Lynch said Monday at the company's Max conference here.
... Read more
CHICAGO--Adobe Systems detailed a number of technology projects and products at its Max 2007 developer conference on Monday and gave glimpse of how it intends to make more money from online services.
During a morning keynote, Chief Software Architect Kevin Lynch announced the acquisition of the online word processor Buzzword and showed a number of applications from partners written to take advantage of AIR, the Adobe Runtime Environment. AIR, still in beta, is a download that enables Web applications to act like desktop applications.
Adobe Chief Software Architect Kevin Lynch stands at the controls during the Max keynote.
(Credit: Martin LaMonica/CNET Networks)Executives showed off Flash Player 10, code-named Astro, which will have enhancements for 3D images, including the ability to display and manipulate images on three axes.
Flash Player 10 will have a new programming language, code-named Hydra, tuned specifically for letting outside developers create their own special effects for Flash images. Adobe engineers are also making text display better on the Flash Player.
During a press and analyst briefing after the keynote, Lynch detailed a number of other projects that the company plans to demonstrate on Tuesday.
Cocomo is a technology project for hosted collaboration services.
The company on Monday launched a beta test of a program called Share, which lets people share documents online. The service and others are set to complement Adobe Acrobat Connect, which lets people share screens over the Internet. Cocomo will comprise a series of hosted collaboration services such as online chatting.
"With Adobe Connect, people can share screens and have meetings. We're opening that up now as a platform for developers...who can create applications that Adobe will be hosting."
Adobe is already investing heavily in Web video, with plans to add support for H.264 high-definition video in Flash. The company is also eager to add voice communications to its platform.
Pacifica is the name of Adobe's voice over Internet Protocol, or VoIP, work, which Lynch is expected to demonstrate on Tuesday.
Adobe CEO Bruce Chizen pushes online services.
(Credit: Martin LaMonica/CNET Networks)Thermo is a project aimed at improving the work flow that happens when developers and designers create applications. Thermo is a visual tool that will enable more people to create rich Internet applications, Lynch said.
More revenue from hosted services
During a question-and-answer session for press members and analysts, CEO Bruce Chizen and President and COO Shantanu Narayen said the company intends to garner more revenue from online services and advertising through revenue-sharing models.
For example, Adobe has signed on broadcasters, including CBS, PBS and Yahoo, to distribute their video programming through the Adobe Media Player.
These content producers can show advertising in a variety of ways through the Media Player. Adobe can share part of that revenue and offer them additional services, such as analytics on how people are viewing their content, Chizen said.
In the case of Photoshop Express, Adobe's online version of Photoshop, Chizen indicated that the company is likely to offer services directly from its Web site.
With its collaboration services for products like Buzzword, Adobe intends to offer free services to individuals and offer premium services such as document versioning and work flow, executives said.
"There are lots of different business models. A lot will depend on what the application is, who the consumer is, and whether they want or don't want advertising, in which case it will be subscription-based...We have a lot of experiments going on," Chizen said.
BOSTON--eBay on Monday opened the doors to its developer conference, where the commerce giant announced a batch of new application-programming interfaces, or APIs, and showed off its new desktop application.
The company announced better-performing shopping Web services, an API for bidding on goods and a way to notify users about auctions through automated alerts.
In addition, the company is expected to demonstrate the desktop application for accessing eBay services, code-named the San Dimas project, during the morning keynote speech.
The software was built using Adobe's AIR platform which enables people to write applications with Web-based toolkits that operate like traditional desktop programs.
Update: Alan Lewis, the program manager for Sam Dimas at eBay, announced during the morning keynote that the beta program is open. People who attend the developer conference will get preferred access to the program, Lewis said.
eBay's desktop application keeps people connected to online auctions but operates and looks like other desktop applications.
(Credit: eBay)On top of releasing new commerce APIs and a new API for mobile PayPal applications, eBay upped the limit on the number of calls that developers can make to eBay's platform per month without paying a transaction fee.
Developers can write applications that make 150,000 calls per month to eBay's Web services, which was bumped up from 10,000. The goal is to simplify the process of letting developers create eBay-connected applications online, according to company executives.
"Before when you were using their API, you had to register for keys and get certified--you had to jump through a lot of hoops," said Jeremy Schoemaker, president of Shoemoney Media Group which is an eBay developer. "Now you can do a lot of basic functionality for free."
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