Apollo alpha available

I saw (via basement.org) that Adobe Apollo is available at adobe labs. It remains to be seen if the whole I need to install tens of targeted rich clients thing will take off (java web start, anyone?), but if it does, this looks like a great tool to be using.

When I was working at Lotus on Workplace Client, I often wondered if Java on the Eclipse platform was really the best way to deploy rich client applications. The only compelling things it had to offer over browser-based applications was an offline experience and desktop integration. (plus some hand waving about leveraging existing Java skills). Now that flex has a more traditional programming model around the flash runtime, and apollo provides desktop integration and offline support (with synchronization) as well as update/provisioning, the advantages of using the Eclipse platform with layers of overpriced IBM code piled on top are evaporating. One could still make a case for the lipstick on a legacy-code pig project (see Hanover/notes 8 ) building on the Java/eclipse stack, but I can’t see any reason why a company would invest in something like Lotus Expeditor for green-field development.

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