User>Driven

Michael Fitzgerald has an article in the New York Times about Web 2.0 word processors that talks about the shift to online apps that started with the late '90s idea of the network computer and now seems to be catching on with wide adoption of broadband.

He talks about these online Office substitutes being mostly for people who don't want to pay for or manage heavy-duty traditional apps like those coming out of Redmond. He also touches on the ability to share documents stored online (though without providing any examples of where that is useful).

He shows some healthy skepticism of Mitch Kapor's claims of unsettling the major players with a new online application paradigm, but he cites only inertia as his reason.

My main concern with online productivity apps is access. They are both more and less accessible than their traditional offline counterparts. They are more accessible in that you can get to them from any web accessible computer (and sometimes other connected devices). But while net access is becoming more ubiquitous, it is not universal. I spend two hours most workdays on the train disconnected. I work with my laptop - and it's prime productivity time because there are no office-mates or children around to distract me - but I couldn't use an online word processor during those times.

This is why I think Adobe's new Apollo technology is so interesting. Rafe Needleman on Cnet's Webware blog says the coolest thing about Apollos is that it allows you to create connected apps that run outside the browser. Maybe he's just more connected than I am, but I think the coolest thing about it is it lets you make apps that work both online and off and that synch up automatically when you reconnect. Check out this demo at Demo where Mike Downing shows an ebay app that doesn't miss a beat when he dramatically pulls the network plug on his laptop. zdnet also has a good backgrounder on Apollo if you are curious. Adobe also has a wiki page on Apollo with a good selection of info for developers.

People are saying Apollo is Adobe's move from the browser (with Flash) to the desktop, but it's more than that. Making RIAs work offline is bringing Web 2.0 to the offline world. Even if Apollo doesn't reach the moon, I see good things coming from this idea.