Bridge the gap between the computer desktop and the Web 2007-03-21
Adobe Systems has released an early version of software that aims to bridge the gap between the computer desktop and the Web. The San Jose software maker described Apollo, available today on the company's Adobe Labs Web site as a "cross-operating system application runtime."
Apollo is similar to Adobe Flash, the technology that allows MySpace and YouTube users to watch video clips in real time online. But instead of running inside Web browsers, Apollo applications will run on the desktop -- without losing their connection to the Internet.
During the past few years, several online companies have used new technologies and programming techniques to add video, chat and even desktop-like word processing features to their Web sites. Kevin Lynch, Adobe's chief software architect, said those technologies have been pushed to the limit.
"Web browsers are great for reading Web pages," Lynch said. "For Web applications, it's really been a stretch to support things like word processors or e-mail."
Other companies, including Microsoft, have offered Web-based add-ons to their desktop software, but Apollo takes the opposite approach.
"We're bringing the innovation on the Web to the desktop," Lynch said.
For example, Apollo-based music player software created by Adobe can access music files on a user's hard drive, but also displays photos of the musician downloaded from the Web site Flickr. Design and technology firm effectiveUI developed an Apollo program for eBay that would give the site's users a new way of watching auctions, including alerts on the desktop instead of on
