Movin' on up
By Jennifer deJong
October 1, 2008 —
(Page 1 of 3)
Once just a way to spruce up static Web pages, rich Internet application technology is moving into the realm of real applications. Two developments are driving the shift.
First, RIA frameworks such as Microsoft Silverlight and Sun Java FX let developers choose RIA tools tied to their respective Java and .NET development platforms. That offers alternatives to market leader Adobe's Flash and its companion Flex offering, which some claim are geared more to designers than to developers. More important, it moves RIA beyond its roots as a separate, specialized technology, making it a set of capabilities within the development platform.
Second, although RIA technology originated as a way to create a better online experience—adding such elements as animation to previously static Web pages—it is emerging as a powerful way to create desktop applications designed to run offline and synchronize with data when connected to the Web. “We call them rich Internet apps, but they will be used on the desktop, too,” said Jacob Lehrbaum, senior product line manager for Sun's JavaFX. “Where the RIA is running doesn’t really matter.”
New development frameworks may remake the RIA landscape long term, but thus far they have had little impact. Viewing RIA content on the Web requires a proper execution environment—and the Flash player is “on people’s machines,” said Greg DeMichillie, director of product management for developer tools at Adobe.
“Flash is consumed by 98% of Internet browsers,” said ZapThink analyst Ron Schmelzer. It’s not that other RIA development frameworks don’t work, he said. “But at this point there is just much more Flash.”
Flash’s installed base is its only advantage, said Patrick Hynds, president of .NET consultancy CriticalSites. From a developer’s standpoint, Flash and its companion Flex (an abstraction layer that handles data access and other services) are difficult to program. “There is a lot of hack, a lot of heavy lifting—particularly around tasks such as synchronizing audio and video,” Hynds said.
But developers who use Flash and Flex are likely to stick with those offerings for now. “People don’t throw away their platform for a better tool overnight,” said Hynds.
Related Search Term(s): RIA
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