Blog Post: Adobe's post-browser move comes at a time when Microsoft is aiming several new products at Adobe's core CS2 suite, and trying to move Windows apps to every platform with Windows Presentation Foundation/Everywhere (WPF/E).There's a
report on News.com that Adobe is working on a way to run Flash outside the browser. The project is code-named Apollo.
The goal of Apollo, which will be available as a free download early next year, is to overcome some of the limitations in today's Web applications, Lynch said. Right now, Flash programs run within a Web browser. Apollo is client-based software that will run Flash applications separately from a browser, whether online or offline, he said.
Competition is heating up among companies seeking to be the preferred supplier of tools and software to run a new generation of Web applications, which feature an interactive user interface and take advantage of broadband networks.
That's pretty interesting. One the one hand, the line is getting blurrier between PC and Web applications. On the other hand, Flash's biggest advantage as a presentation format is its browser ubiquity.
Adobe is making this move at a time when Microsoft is aiming several new products at Adobe's core CS2 suite. Not the least of which is Microsoft's Expression Interactive Designer, formerly known as
Sparkle, which is most similar to Flash. Sparkle is being beta tested right now, though MS calls that a CTP (Community Technology Preview). Check out our
exclusive first look on Publish.com, and some
screenshots. Microsoft is also currently previewing Expression Graphic Designer, formerly known as
"Acrylic." Next out of MS' preview barn will be Expression Web Designer, known as "Quartz." I have a hunch that preview will be coming very soon.
Also, let's not forget that Microsoft is also working on Windows Presentation Foundation/Everywhere, or WPF/E. That technology is MS' bid to move Windows apps beyond the PC platform.
When I
live-blogged the Mix06 conference in Vegas this year, Bill Gates said: "If you think of Atlas as raising the floor in pure browser experience, we also want to raise the ceiling. This is where we've created WPF. WPF takes the graphics pipeline that's been separated and pulls it together."
Apollo also sounds like a way to package PDF and Flash together. Adobe says that all three products will continue to be separate downloads.
