Written By Kate Zimmermann | March 19, 2007 | Share This |

Today Adobe released the alpha version of Apollo, a software that lets developers build off and online applications. From CNET:

” Apollo is designed to bridge the world of Web applications and desktop computers. Applications written for Apollo function like normal Web applications but act like locally installed software. For example, Apollo applications will […]

Today Adobe released the alpha version of Apollo, a software that lets developers build off and online applications. From CNET:

” Apollo is designed to bridge the world of Web applications and desktop computers. Applications written for Apollo function like normal Web applications but act like locally installed software. For example, Apollo applications will have an icon that shows up on a computer desktop and will be able to automatically reconnect when a computer gets online.”

For a more detailed description, check out Adobe Labs, or watch this presentation. Below is a sample application, a music player, to illustrate exactly how a program would transfer from the browser to the desktop.

Here it is running music from the desktop in a browser application:

And then, the application streaming data from the internet to the music player on the desktop:

As TechCrunch writes,

“Entirely new classes of companies can be built on this platform, which takes Flash, HTML and javascript completely outside of the browser and interacts with the file system on a PC. Photos, music, email and many other everyday tasks make a lot of sense in a single environment that is both local and in the cloud simultaneously.”

Apollo doesn’t just enable the interaction of desktop and online data, it extends a site’s presence to encourage more regular user interaction. Sites running on both the desktop and browser will need to adopt metrics that better reveal the depth of “engagement” with site content.

Microsoft is employing a similar strategy to reaffirm their presence in search. The New York Times quoted Susan Dumais, a veteran Microsoft search expert, following Microsoft’s TechFest event,

“Search in the future will look nothing like today’s simple search engine interfaces, she said, adding, “If in 10 years we are still using a rectangular box and a list of results, I should be fired.”

Microsoft is creating its own search market by developing applications that seamlessly transition between on and offline data. Now with Adobe Apollo, it will be easier for smaller web companies to follow suit.

Further Reading: