April 9th, 2008

Curl joins Eclipse foundation, moves development to Eclipse plugins

Posted by Ryan Stewart @ 2:33 am

Categories: Curl, Eclipse, Rich Internet Applications

Tags: Developer, Eclipse Plug-in, Eclipse, Plug-in, Curl, Java Development Tools, Open Source, Development Tools, Software Development, Software/Web Development

Curl announced yesterday that they’re joining the Eclipse foundation and that they’ll be releasing a series of Eclipse plugins to support Curl development while phasing out the current tools. It’s a great move for Curl and a win for Eclipse which continues to expand its reach in the developer community and especially the rich Internet application community.

The new version of the development environment will include all of the current IDE functionality but will be all hooked into Eclipse. This is going to lower the barrier to entry to Curl development because the Curl toolset will now be available for any developer to plug into their current development environment. That’s the beauty of Eclipse - so many developers are using it for so many different things and the plug and play architecture means any developer can quickly and easily try something new. Curl’s technology has always been quality but developer adoption, especially with a new language, can be tough. This should speed developer adoption for Curl.

You can get more information about Curl and their progress with Eclipse over on their developer center.

February 20th, 2008

The importance of tools in rich Internet application platforms

Posted by Ryan Stewart @ 11:01 pm

Categories: Adobe, Ajax, Curl, Eclipse, Expression Studio, JavaFX, Microsoft, OpenLaszlo, Rich Internet Applications

Tags: Adobe Systems Inc., Rich Internet Application, Microsoft Corp., Tool, Development Platform, Tooling, Productivity, Ryan Stewart

The RIA space is white hot. Microsoft, Adobe, the vast number of Ajax frameworks out there and companies like Laszlo Systems, Curl, and Appcelerator are all focused on creating great platforms and applications for rich Internet applications. We might even see JavaFX this year. Back when I did my predictions for this year I said that some of these smaller RIA players would have less than stellar years this year. I stand by that but I wanted to flesh it out a little bit because I think the main reason is tools. And all of these companies can adjust/enhance their offerings by changing the tooling strategy.

Tools are a big part of any job but they aren’t everything. A great carpenter with great tools will create a great piece of furniture. A great carpenter without great tools will probably still build something amazing. But a good carpenter with great tools can transcend his or her ability in some ways to create something very special. Development platforms are no different. The better your tools are the easier it will be for more people to create great things on top of your platform. The only problem in today’s RIA landscape is that there are really only two companies with great tooling stories. Not coincidentally, they’re also the biggest players: Adobe and Microsoft.

The tooling is also one of the big reasons that the rivalry between Adobe and Microsoft is so interesting. To paint a broad brush, Adobe has great design tools and Microsoft has great developer tools. Adobe has made a lot of inroads with Flex Builder and because we based it on a pretty good existing toolset,we got some instant credibility in the developer space. Microsoft made a big splash when they rolled out their Expression Suite as a competitor to Adobe’s design tools. One of the unique things about rich Internet application platforms is that you need both great design tools as well as great developer tools. That’s one area where smaller companies are going to struggle. Microsoft and Adobe both have the resources and the know how around tools which they can build on as they cross over into each others territory.

So what’s the solution and what’s my prediction? First, I realize I say this with a lot of bias, but that’s not the intent. If I were smaller companies I would build off of the bigger companies tools. I started thinking about this when Coté and I were on the podcast talking about JavaFx possibly hooking into Adobe’s design tools. If other RIA companies can take advantage of the Microsoft/Adobe toolchain, then they don’t have to worry about building from scratch (hard). They can simply plugin to the existing market and focus on the interoperability between those tools and their own platforms. In the Ajax world, which still hasn’t quite nailed the tooling yet, this could be a huge differentiator.

There are still risks. Microsoft and Adobe are obviously looking to make their tools play best with their platforms so being an addon is kind of a tricky situation. But I think the importance that everyone has started to place on experience means that both the design and development tools are going to be a very key part of the story. How those tools evolve, and especially in the realm between designer and developer, will be a important subplot to the adoption of RIAs.

November 13th, 2006

What a free Java means for Rich Internet Applications

Posted by Ryan Stewart @ 10:53 am

Categories: Adobe, Eclipse, Java, Rich Internet Applications, Sun Microsystems

Tags:

The big news today was that Java is going to be released for free under the GPL license. This comes hot off the heals of Adobe's decision to open source their ActionScript Virtual Machine (my thoughts here), the core part of the Flash Player. While both of these announcements are unrelated, I think both are very good for Rich Internet Applications.

One of the main concerns for many people in this new, standards-based world, is that the Rich Internet Technologies that exist are largely proprietary. Microsoft's Windows Presentation Foundation isn't open, Flash player is still largely closed, though ActionScript is well-positioned to become the ECMA standard implementation for the 4th revision. OpenLaszlo provides an open source solution, but if you go the Flash route, you're still stuck to proprietary technology.

Java has always tried to be the write once, run everywhere solution, and it made a lot headway. There are supposedly 5 million Java developers out there, and it runs on everything from servers to mobile devices. As a Rich Internet Application solution however, it has always lacked a little bit. It was difficult to build compelling user interfaces with Java, and because it came before the web really took off, it never quite meshed with web developers. As new and more interesting technologies appeared, Java took a back seat quietly riding along powering big parts of the web from behind the curtains.

But this announcement should bring a healthy jolt to the Java community and revitalize Java as a platform at just the right time. Eclipse's Rich Client Platform continues to make strides, and I hope is one of the main beneficiaries of a new, open Java. Between Flash, and Windows Presentation Foundation, there is starting to be a lot more interest in applications that leverage the web, but are available offline and can make use of the power that we have heavily invested in on our client machines.

Java is well positioned for a resurgence because of their strong developer community and their history as a platform. This step could help bring Java into the new world and make it a rallying point for developers who want an open source solution do deliver Rich Internet Applications. I also hope it encourages other providers to open up more. We got a glimpse that Adobe is willing to consider that, and I hope this adds to that conversation within the company.

October 10th, 2006

Universal Desktop Daily - Tuesday, October 10, 2006

Posted by Ryan Stewart @ 1:50 am

Categories: Eclipse, Microsoft, Rich Internet Applications

Tags:

• IE7 is being pushed out as a security update possibly as early as today, but definitely by the end of the month. Windows XP users will still need to download the .NET 3.0 runtime to view Windows Presentation Foundation (WPF) applications, but because XBAPs (the browser version of WPF) will require IE7, this means most XP users will only have to download the runtime and not a new browser.
• Computerworld has an interview with Mike Milinkovich, executive director of Eclipse. I think Eclipse is a very interesting RIA solution, and one that I don't know enough about. The interview does a good job of shedding some light on the Eclipse strategy.

Just those couple of items today. Everyone was busy talking about Google and YouTube yesterday, which didn't leave much airspace for anything else.