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Words of wisdom: Besides, REAL computers have a rename() system call. :-) -- Larry Wall in <7937@jpl-devvax.JPL.NASA.GOV>

Web 2.0 was marked by the development of web-based applications. Things really took off when "mashups" began to appear; the ability to take information from multiple sites and create a unique service, based on the web, that provided a sum greater than the whole of its parts. But the major limitation to all these services is that they existed solely in the realm of the Internet, and data was stored on somebody else's servers.

The introduction of Ajax Runtime Environments is poised to change all that. Adobe's Air platform and Mozilla's XULRunner allow coders to write applications using the technology of Web 2.0 - XML, Ajax, and Javascript - and transfer what was once a web-only platform to the user's desktop.


Traditionally, Web 2.0 applications were limited to content already in existence on the web. They relied largely upon user-uploaded content to various sites (Flickr being a great example), as well as the large databases maintained by corporations (Amazon.com's API, which allows you to query their products, being a good example of this).

These desktop-based applications will still have access to this web-based content, but it is also able to utilize what's most important to the user - the files located on his or her desktop and local network. Combining this data with the information stored can bring about limitless possibilities.

A quick example: imagine an application that can sort and browse through the photos you took on a recent trip to Spain. The application then queries Flickr for other people's photos of the same locations; together, you now have not only your own photos, but access to pictures taken by the entire web community. Another example: you have an application to manage your personal book collection. This web-enhanced app, running on your desktop, is now able to lookup what books you might like to read, based on recommendations from Amazon.com and other sites. The possibilities are endless.


We've already seen the beginning of such programs. Miro, an application for downloading and watching internet-based TV, uses the Mozilla XULRunner Runtime Environment. Songbird, an iTunes-like music player, also utilizes the XULRunner environment. Joost, an application similar to Miro, was created by the founders of Skype and Kazaa, and uses p2p technology to distribute vidcasts over the internet. All of these applications have a few key things in common: they run on the desktop, they are cross-platform, easy to develop, and can easily leverage the full power of the Internet to deliver content and an experience not limited by the traditional methods of desktop-based programs.


Like the emergence of Web 2.0, it's impossible to tell where things will end up going. But the possibilities of combining the desktop with the collective resources of the Internet-at-large are seemingly endless. My prediction is that we'll see applications that become as integral a part of our computing experience as services like Gmail and Flickr have become in the past few years.