Saw this article on news.com, about Macrodobia’s project Apollo, no it has nothing to due with Gods, or Battlestar Galactica. Rather it has to do with bringng down the wall that seperates web applications, RIAs, from desktop and client server applications.
RIAs, at least the Macrodobia kind, rely on the internet. There are of course ways to detect connection and store data locally (not well, and in a limited capacity in the case of Flash, and Flex). But nevertheless, a web browser is needed. If you start out offline, you can’t even get to the web app you want.
Macrodobia plans to change that with Apollo. Apollo will provide a wrapper that will be a deskop application. It will have an icon, be "uninstallable" etc. And will run, Flash, html, PDF, probably more, content… Locally, regardless of internet connection. Best of all, it should make it easier for RIAs to interact with the users local system. The Flash player that lives in browsers is contained in a sandbox. One with high walls protecting the users’ computer from the flash file.
Apollo programs will function when a person is offline and automatically update data when the user gets back online. For example, a person could book an airline ticket from a handheld or laptop offline; when the person reconnects to a network, the software will complete the transaction.
Cool. technically possible now, but it requires a lot more effort on the part of the developer to handle sometimes connectedness. And you still usually have to start out connected to get to the app.
I can’t wait. With the power of Flex2 and the ability to make apps that live on the users’ computer, very cool things on teh horizon for RIAs. And those of us that create them.