Some initial thoughts on "Apollo"
Posted by Jesse Rodgers on October 31, 2006 at 11:50 AM
I was far too sleepy when Apollo was introduced at MAX to really grasp what they were showing me. It looked cool but I heard ‘webkit’ and I thought web browser. Then I noticed the TUAW coverage of Apollo and realized how wrong I was. But now I am left wondering a few things like what is the difference between the web browser as the platform and Apollo?
According the FAQ:
What is Apollo?
Apollo is the code name for a cross-operating system runtime being developed by Adobe that allows developers to leverage their existing web development skills (Flash, Flex, HTML, JavaScript, Ajax) to build and deploy Rich Internet Applications (RIAs) to the desktop.
This really does beg the question: why? If you keep reading the FAQ you come across this…
Is Apollo a web browser?
No. Apollo is a cross-operating system runtime that runs outside of the browser.
Theoretically you could build a web browser on top of Apollo.
So the skeptic in me says that is what a web browser does. If gives developers a cross platform environment to deploy Rich Internet Applications (RIA). Although a web browser doesn’t give you the ability to package itself up and send it to someone and just work. But is that expecting a decent size change in people’s web browser centric thinking? I think so. There are advantages with regards to offline use an CD-ROM or Kiosk applications which I am guessing is a decent size audience (thinking distance education, part-time students, etc at UW). It could even enable you to create a custom podcast/vodcast reader for your school and thus take care of copyright/security concerns, just distribute it in house and autheticate with your internal system to install.
The talk at MAX was that Apollo would change a lot of things on the web, and it might if people create a web browser on top of it, but it really is just another tool you can try and use. Will people use it? Time will tell I guess. I think it is cool but like Flex I just don’t see a practical application in my everyday web work. Web apps can do the same thing, just not in as cool a way. I wonder if I will change my mind in the next few months?