Adobe last week launched the alpha SDK of its Apollo runtime engine, a developing framework that boasts the hallmark cross-platform deployment capabilities availed through Flash, yet its slant toward widely adopted standards opens the door for developers to build some fairly rich Internet desktop mashups. The Apollo framework enables development of desktop/Web application hybrids based on Web technologies such a The Apollo framework enables development of desktop/Web application hybrids based on Web technologies such as HTML, JavaScript, Flash, and beyond. Unlike with Flash, however, the resulting apps connect more tightly to underlying resources, thanks to provisions for read/write to local storage, system- and app-level notifications, drag-and-drop, and the like. I like the abilities for local storage, as well as the network-detection taps being built into the API, which will open a wealth of opportunity for getting occasionally connected apps re-synced upon connection.Really exciting, too, will be the ability to bridge Javascript/Actionscript models without serialization. Direct object access will help developers more easily hurdle the Actionscript wall. The HTML engine here has a fairly light footprint – based on a snapshot of the open source Webkit project – leaving the door open for future mobile deployment opportunities, no doubt.Development is command line driven. But, Adobe has also provided an extension to integrate Apollo projects within Adobe Flex Builder (the Flex IDE).Builder brings to the table some decent project management tools, debugger, and packager to bundle up Apollo AIR files for deployment. Builder is not free, unlike the basic SDK, but the wizard-driven project launcher did a good job at jumpstarting the requisites XML configuration skeleton and MXML, with added guides for working on ColdFusion and Flex Data Services projects. Flex extensions also deliver Apollo control components for HTML, windowing constructs and file access display (such as data grids, trees, and lists). And, the debug launcher for Apollo did a decent job while Flex debugger does the dirty work. For anything serious, Builder will likely be worth the investment. There remains much to be done before this application is ready for primetime deployment – currently targeted for late 2007. You still can’t create library projects, and there are a number of rendering issues. Apollo resource security options are limited, and performance was rough. But, this is clearly stamped alpha – so there’s no surprise there. So, while I’m not yet singing paeans for its worth, I do find Apollo to represent a well-formed alpha, showing good promise at influencing the opportunity for future desktop-to-Web application development in the coming years. Apollo SDK Alpha 1 Availability: General release planned for Q4 2007 Pricing: SDK, free Verdict: Adobe Apollo is pushing into the desktop space with an experience more in line with the vision of Windows WPF and .Net. Although the product is alpha, it shows good underpinnings for enhancing desktop apps (as well as users’ Web UI experience) with data access, interaction, and rendering facilities currently unavailable through other means. Although Apollo’s foresight is warmly welcomed and seemingly well lit, final execution on the promise will ultimately decide if this goes supernova or fades to a black hole for Adobe. Technology Industry