As widely reported, Adobe Systems released its Apollo software yesterday, which is expected to bridge the gap between the Web and desktop in all kinds of new applications — from video to word processing.
Web-based applications are hitting their limits. Apollo’s appeal is that instead of running inside a Web browser, its applications run on the desktop. A failure in a network connection, therefore, won’t interrupt users who are using Apollo apps on their desktop. However, the Apollo platform detects if there’s a network connection available, so it can also interact with the Web if it wants.
In other words, it makes the web browser optional. Even browser company Mozilla/Firefox has acknowledged this trend, and is moving to support offline applications. We’ve talked before about this online/offline mode, from Sharpcast’s vision to wrap in storage and mobility, to Parakey, a new start-up about which little is known.
The Mercury News has a good overview here.
