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Ryan Stewart was blogging about how Apollo is going to change the internet application paradigm. It reminded me of the same promise made by the Java Web Start technology. The Java camp has been trying to push web application to the desktop for years with Java Web Start. Unfortunately, Web Start was plagued with poor performance and instability in the first few releases, making it unattractive to the developers. The biggest roadblock for Web Start was the fact that Sun was having a hard time getting the public to upgrade to the latest Java runtime environment. The 20mb installer and a confusing download page have proven to be too much for the casual computer users.

Do all these remind you of anything? That’s right, the Java applet technology. Java applet was the first serious attempt at rich internet application – a concept way ahead of its time, but it was hindered by the same problems. If you ask any developer familiar with Java, he or she would tell you that applet is too slow and most people don’t know how to install the JRE. Fast forward to the present, Flex is really just another attempt at the original Java applet vision. Unlike the Java applet, the Flash platform enjoys a tremendous install base and it’s very easy to upgrade to the latest version. Flex also loads faster and looks way better than its ugly cousin. It’s no wonder the Flex Builder 2 is just flying off the shelf as soon as it’s released.

Looking into the future, the Apollo shares a common vision with Java Web Start, but can Apollo overcome the challenges plaguing its predecessors? Looking at what Flex has done for rich internet applications, one can’t help being a little optimistic. Hopefully, the Apollo team can learn from the Java Web Start’s mistakes and finally capture the market.

It has come to my attention that some people are having trouble with the sample code I released, so I whipped up this installation guide. Please don’t hesitate to contact me if you have any problems.

Be warned, this stuff might bore your head off, but I find it really exciting. I just discovered this gem called Mule. It’s a Java enterprise messaging bus similar to the Microsoft Indigo. What Mule and Indigo have in common is that they abstract the transport level details into the runtime configuration files.

Let me take a step back and explain what that means. Computer programs are all about exchanging messages. For example, a typical web application has an user interface that exchange data with the middle tier and the backend database; different processes on the same system need to exchange data with each other and the OS; systems across the globe exchange data over the internet… The problem with the traditional model is that the transport protocols are baked into the code. For example, if you have two process that communicate via a TCP port, you simply cannot make them webservice ready without code changes.

With Mule (or Indigo), the developers can focus on manipulating the data and not have to think about the transport layer details while coding. For example, I’m building an application that sends messages to another application. In my code, I just need to pass the data to Mule as a Java bean. After I have compiled my application, I can then use the Mule configration file to wire my application to a TCP port or a file share. Down the road, I can rewire it to a web service easily by making a few changes to the configuration file.

Because Mule supports so many protocols, you can also use it to integrate almost every system under the sun. We can use it to glue together Flex and the LiveCycle environment, or even between multiple instances of the workflow server. The possibilities are endless. I’m looking forward to ramp up on Mule, which shouldn’t be too hard since they seem to have really good documentation. Hopefully I can come up with some neat samples soon. Stay tuned

LiveCycle veteran Marcel Boucher just started a blog aimed at promoting Flex, LiveCycle, and ColdFusion integration. A big part of Marcel’s day job is to build integration demos and training material using the enterprise products. It’s really exciting that he is joining our blogsphere. I’m looking forward to see his demos and tutorials. Welcome, Marcel!!

-> Go to Marcel’s blog

As the title suggests, this is a tutorial showing you how to leverage the form server to create dynamic forms. There is some coding involved, so feel free to download the sample code and play around with it. I’m really excited that I finally got this done because we now have covered enough fundamentals to start integrating with Flex. So next stop, Flexville!!

Everyone familiar with Flex knew this was going to happen sooner or later, and here it is, a Flash based web OS known as the DesttopTwo. There is a full blown email client, address book, blog editor, IM client, MP3 player… the list goes on. Apparently there is also integration with Adobe Reader and Open Office, but I got a Java error when I tried to launch them, although I’m impressed enough as it is.

The designers behind DesktopTwo have done an excellent job replicating the desktop environment, but I think their next big challenge is to break away from the traditional desktop mindset. Take Writely for example, their AJAX word processor couldn’t compare with MS Word feature by feature, so they focused on things like realtime collaborative editing and direct publishing to blogs. These things cannot be easily done using Word but they are a snap when you are working in a web environment.

To wrap up my post, I have to say I’m really excited about where DesktopTwo is going. As a student, I have to hop between my home and school computers all day. Having a web desktop can help me store all my work in one central environment. I hope they smooth out the bugs soon so I can start using it productively. I’m also really looking forward to the day when we could just buy a thin tablet loaded with nothing but a browser!!