Rich Internet Applications wars
by Pierre Boisvenue. October 23, 2007.
There is no doubt that the future of computing is going through a huge transformation phase since the i
ntroduction of the Mozilla web browser. Also, there is no doubt in my mind that Rich Internet Applications (RIA), a phrase first invented by Adobe systems, will revolutionize the way users interact with information. The audience for these technologies are many.
There is the data consumer, one using devices such as a mobile phone, portable devices with internet accessibility or a desktop computer for searching for products and services. Then there is the data researcher, one who requires data to do his or her job. On the other side we have the content creators responsible for providing the data consumer and data researcher with the goods, using tools from many vendors such as Adobe and Microsoft, just to name a few. Search engine systems in their current form may also be part of this RIA revolution once the dust settles on what internet standards will be in vogue at that time and another side effect of RIA may also impact database system design and implementation. The need for accurate real time information will always be in demand for data researchers but information is sometime not always available for numerous reasons like security or proprietary trade secrets.
So what is exactly a Rich Internet Application? Well since Adobe coined the phrase let’s start with Adobe Systems. Since they first introduced the portable document format PDF they have set a standard recognized by many computing platform by making the API available. Also, Adobe has become the de facto provider of all things graphical with Adobe Photoshop, Illustrator, Fireworks just to name a few.
But when it comes to RIA, at the core we have Adobe Flash which has revolutionized the graphical user interface. In fact Microsoft took noticed, a bit late in the game has introduced SilverLight a direct competitor to Adobe Flash. Will SilverLight be made available to other computing platform? Only time will tell. Now the Adobe Flash player is a closed proprietary platform at the moment but so will SilverLight. The intent with RIA is to make it work inside or outside of the web browser. When outside, the RIA will act like a web browser via Adobe Integrated Runtime (AIR) with internet services and the added bonus of providing rich means for the data consumer or researcher.
Now for Microsoft windows users, will Microsoft alter its operating system to favour its SilverLight solution over Adobe’s integrated runtime? Also, time will tell. In the meantime, the capability to serve information in a more graphical 3 dimensional manner as opposed to simple text is in the cards I believe.
Adobe, Microsoft, Flash, AIR, Silverlight, Google