in Hacking

Choosing a direction for Rich Internet Applications

Currently we're at the point of a big shift/hype of (Web) Application Development. The development of Rich Internet Applications. (RIA). A RIA is an application that runs via the web, probably via a webbrowser though this isn't a requirement.
The idea is that RIA makes this application work like a local desktop application. This could mean the application should be capable of running offline and online.

There are severy solutions for this purpose:

  • Ajax Based ~ This is wat I'm used to, but it has it's limitations.
  • Google Gears ~ Browser Plugin Based. Look Nice, browser plugin offline application use
  • Adobe FLEX/Flash ~ Via the Flash plugin that's installed on almost every PC
  • Adobe Air ~ To run applications from the desktop
  • Microsoft Silverlight ~ Microsoft attempt to join the club
  • JavaFX ~ Beta, Looks nice. unfortunally I'm not a big fan of the large overhead the Java plugin has.
  • Ajax isn't an ideal solution because it never gives me access to the local user's PC and doesn't work offline.

    Now is my Problem, what direction should I choose?! Staying with Ajax for now seems like a safe choice, because it will run probably on the most platforms..

    This is something that requires some good Research!