Bringing the desktop experience to the web
Thanks to this TechCrunch blog entry I stumbled upon a new web service called Anywhere.FM. It was built using Adobe Flex and allows you to upload your entire music collection, listen to it from anywhere and share it with friends. It's definitely a simple yet well thought out application with a similar appearance to iTunes.
Lately a lot of focus in the blog community has switched to Adobe AIR and bringing normally web based applications to the desktop. Although Adobe AIR is a great technology and will play a large part in RIAs future, I think Adobe Flex still deserves a lot of credit for helping bring the desktop experience to the web.
When using HTML to develop web applications I often got frustrated with the hoops I repeatedly had to jump through to make the web page look and feel like an application. Instead Adobe Flex's customized components and object-orientated nature is helping developers around the world build web applications quicker and easier than ever.
Now if only the Anywhere.FM developers can package up their service as an Adobe AIR app! *hint hint*
RIA for the Next Generation
One of today's big announcements is the $700 million purchase of Club Penguin by Disney. For those who don't know, Club Penguin is a virtual world for kids ages 8 to 14 where they can safely communicate and play mini games with other members. It makes extensive use of Adobe Flash allowing them to create a fun virtual world without the need to install stand-alone software.
When I got my first internet connection I used a browser called WinWeb which didn't even display photos on websites. Although at the time I was ok with that, mainly because I really didn't know what I was missing and was just excited to figure out what the heck the Internet was. At least now though, I always crave a better experience and could never go back to the web I first met. Yet not everyone likes change as much as I do and I believe that is why many think the simpler the site the better and don't see a need for richer internet experience.
Although convincing usage of technologies such as Adobe Flex to the WinWeb generation can sometimes be tough, the newest generation just getting a taste for the Internet for the first time doesn't need to be sold at all. They just want a great user experience and have no bias on what technologies are used. It's purchases like the one today that assure me RIA has a very big future and I am definitely excited to be apart of that.
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