Question: Ajax applications can be considered as a true all-embracing RIAs (Rich Internet Application - RIA is a web application with all the features and functionality of a traditional desktop application for PC)?
According to Ryan Stewart, no - or at least not now.
The role of the desktop in rich Internet applications by ZDNet 's Ryan Stewart - Rich Internet Applications have helped change the face of the web. It's more interactive, Designers Have Been Able to leave Their mark and innovation in web development has soared. Rich Internet Applications helped open up the web to better Experiences and now They Are Doing the Same for desktop applications. Where do RIAs fit into the world of desktop development?
In fact, competition with other "approaches" - so to speak - is very high. The recent explosion of Net TV, for example, shows that the union is strength. In "Ajax" you can not see a video, for one thing. How you can make many other stuff. I do not think Ajax will be the absolute future. I see more than anything else in Ajax browser extension and a new way to address some of the dynamics related to the EU before even considered.
However, if someone had noticed it, there are still obstacles to overcome. For example:
- Improve the compatibility between different browsers on the market, a topic widely discussed on this very blog
- Allow greater interaction between Web pages and the operating system "host", such as a drag and drop from the desktop to the Web page
- Standardization of scripting: Jscript, Javascript (1.3, 1.7, ...), VBScript
- Accessibility, usability and security, given that we are on the net!
Libraries, Prototype / Script.aculo.us and YUI components: the real stumbling block?
When a developer creates a library or a frame-work to fix (once and for all) a variety of needs, start by creating a monster. Often do not realize it but the link end-user developer is really twisted. It begins, for example, with the creation of a JavaScript library that can create simple windows. Just a little and someone creates a similar library that allows you to create modal windows resizable and overlapping with the management order. After a while, 'it comes up and you also implements customized graphics ... and so on.
Basically when you get something, immediately following the instant that something seems not enough, seems to be the standard and then seek new accessories to enhance even more the performance or appearance. All end-user requests! And the developer runs almost like a dog intimidated; the end-user is always right!
This race continues, in a universe like that of the Internet, is likely to bring long cast more confusion than anything else.
Web 3.0?
Lately experiences (beta) have proliferated in the Web2.0 on the network at an impressive pace. Each has brought to the attention its application Ajax-style, each with its embedded solutions, relying on libraries notes, writing frame-work owners, etc. ...
Each experience had its peculiarities: some was visually appealing, some extremely fast, extremely customizable, and other other very usable.
But no one, until now, has managed to combine all this in a single environment.
Careful reasoning it is clear that the reason is the poor support provided by the browser itself and the immense complexity of the problem.
Even if someone has assimilated the browser to an operating system, it still holds a huge advantage. Foremost among these is the so-called kernel. What is the kernel Explorer or FireFox? Both, like Opera or Safari, barely support the scripting language called JavaScript (or JScript as the case). Mozilla FireFox is about to release its version of JavaScript 1.7, really interesting. But will Microsoft Explorer? It will install an ActiveX emulate him, wait until 2012 for the release of IE8 or use a myriad of if to understand on what platform you are working?
I can only agree with Ryan Stewart. For now, Ajax is a technique of considerable help in very specific cases, but to compare this technique (and I stress technique is not technology) to a RIA seems to me - at least for now - really excessive.
Macromedia / Adobe
Interesting, however, are the technologies (and I stress technology and non-technical) Flex / Flash and Apollo, after the acquisition of Macromedia by Adobe are living a second youth.
I highly recommend to all interested parties to view the Adobe Labs , where he shows a nice new policy that definitely inspires more confidence in the future of Script.aculo.us - no offense, and without detracting from the developer.
But the Internet has a unique feature, that of surprise, so I'm not surprised at all that he said - short - a myriad of nonsense!
[...] Indeed, the new capabilities of ActionScript 3.0 (involving projects such as Flex and Apollo - see also Web2.0: Adobe is trying to Apollo and Ajax: Rich Internet Application) makes him the perfect candidate for the implementation of real Ajax RIAs on the web, on the other hand, we see ousted from his throne in this new scenario. Despite the countless Ajax Framework, some excellent, produced during the last few years, Flash provides an environment most advanced and easy to manipulate. Also we talk about one of the world's most popular plugins: Flash has it behind a few years older than Ajax and derivatives. [...]