The past year has seen many traditionally desktop applications such as word processing and spreadsheets move online with the development of Google Docs and Zoho.  Many businesses have moved their office suites online in order to benefit from the access anywhere nature of these applications as well as additional features that are not available in their desktop competitors, such as instant collaboration and automatic revision control.

But these applications are not completely stuck within the confines of the web.  Using integrated persistent storage within the browser, or plug-ins such as Google Gears, many of these applications are able to work offline when no connection is available.

The development of these RIA (Rich Internet Applications) has been possible as browsers have matured and support for advanced client side scripting has become commonplace.  This has meant that development has been rapid as developers do not need to retrain in new languages, they can simply use their existing knowledge and skill set to its full capacity without being hindered by the browser environment.
Not content with moving traditional desktop applications online, many companies are now looking at ways of taking their RIAs out of the browser and into the desktop environment itself.

Adobe Systems has recently announced the release of version 1.0 of AIR (Adobe Integrated Runtime).  AIR allows web developers to create standalone applications that can be deployed across multiple platforms using current web technologies, but without the need for a web browser.  Auction giants eBay have already developed an AIR application to “extend its global marketplace”.  The New York Times was able to take their ShifD web application and apply it to the AIR environment providing their users with a consistent interface across mobile, web and desktop environments.  The ease with which The New York Times was able to take their existing web application and port it to the AIR platform was expressed by Michael Young, a technologist within their Research & Development lab.

Adobe AIR allowed us to re-use much of the same code from the web application.  A lot of the Javascript, CSS, and HTML were very easily ported over from ShifD and applied to the existing API’s to build a simple, scalable application.

It is not only Adobe who is looking to bridge the web, desktop divide.  Mozilla, the company behind the successful Open Source web browser Firefox, has also been developing their own application geared at making web applications more like their desktop cousins.  A recent posting on the Mozilla Labs site says that they will be:

launching a series of experiments to bridge the divide in the user experience between web applications and desktop apps and to explore new usability models as the line between traditional desktop and new web applications continues to blur.

The first of these releases is Prism, built upon their popular web browser Prism lets users take any web application out of their browser and run them directly on their desktop.

The initial version of Prism removes the document-centric controls of the web browser such as the back and forward buttons as well as location bar, allowing the user to concentrate solely on the RIA.  But the roadmap for later releases sees Prism becoming an integrated environment similar to AIR offering support for offline storage and access to 3D Graphics hardware.

Even though there is not a set timeline for the introduction of these features into Prism, with Mozilla’s track record for developing industry leading applications and the speed at which it produces new versions of their software I think it is safe to say that we can expect a lot from Prism and we can expect it soon.

This blurring of the line between web and desktop can only mean good things for businesses and users alike.
Businesses will see a drop in the cost of developing software, as their online applications can be easily adapted to work offline, negating the need for the development of a completely new application.  Not only will this remove some of the cost involved but it will also allow them to create a coherent look, feel and function across platforms.

Why restrict a potential customer to only being able to view your ecommerce site online when you can let them browse offline in an application that not only looks exactly like your website but also functions the same?  Your website can now become an integrated part of the users desktop, escaping the normal confines of their web browser.  Got an important announcement for your users?  Why wait until the next time they visit their site or open their inbox when you can alert them straight from their desktop.