Sometimes a simple one liner found deep down in some active message forum thread is worth a seperate blog entry.

> Apollo is cross-platform desktop technology mix that
> allows you use Flex/xHTML/Ajax/PDF on desktop, use
> filesystem, DBs, networking and so forth.

“what you describe, is a mess not an environment.”

This quote, coming from (yet another) Javalobby discussion about the future of java on the desktop, hits the nail right on the spot. Due to the lack of a decent environment for application distribution we’re trying to fullfil the needs of richness with a mess of browser techniques that make application development look ancient again. We have spoiled our end users with the most fabulous human-being to machine interfaces and meanwhile, due to some rediculous narrowminded views on how end-users are allowed to access applications (actually do their job), we have been selling ‘no, sorry, not possible, technically unattainable’ for too many years. And instead of looking at a feasible solution for this problem, which indeed must be found in an environment and not in a trick, we keep on messing around with whatever technique as long as it is applicable within a browser. At this years JavaOne, Aerith has shown what is possible. The future of Java on the desktop is not a question, it is an idle void waiting to be filled. Maybe it is time to replace the internet browser for the sake of richness?