Webtop Software Development: Combining the Desktop and the Internet

“Adobe recently created a media buzz with the announcement of a
cross-platform Web-enabled runtime environment, code named Apollo.
The environment allows developers to create applications that run
directly on the desktop while using content from the Web. Adobe has
built Apollo to leverage existing technologies such as Flash, Flex,
HTML, and AJAX. Apollo is an amazing concept, but it is not a new
idea. Sun Microsystems released Java Web Start in 2001, and the
Mozilla Foundation invented XUL when it created Firefox. There are
also several startups entering the market. All of their products
are geared do the same thing: bring Web applications to the
desktop.

“Apollo is a runtime environment, meaning that it must be
installed on the target machine before any Apollo-enabled
applications can be executed. The runtime is free to all end users,
the same way the Adobe Flash Player and Adobe PDF Reader are. The
Apollo software development kit is free as well and does not
require an interactive development environment–at this time.
Apollo, being an Adobe product, is built to leverage existing Adobe
products such as Flash and Flex…”

Complete
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