Adobe AIR: Is breaking out of the browser the right next step?
If you read my blog regularly, you’ll know I was quick to jump on the AIR trip. I do still very much like AIR, have seen some good AIR apps and believe it has some good potential. I’ve played with a couple of AIR apps, have seen several AIR presentations (even presented one) and made numerous blog posts about it. So I feel I’m justified in my opinion that I’m not completely convinced that this is the best next step for RIAs, or at least not the best place we can end up.
I mentioned “played with a couple of AIR apps”, why only two? To be honest it’s probably slightly more, but still only very few. I’ve downloaded and installed the Pownce AIR app, now uninstalled as I didn’t use it. I downloaded and installed the Finetune AIR app, now uninstalled as I don’t keep much music on my computer and so it didn’t offer me much more than the in-browser version. I’ve also downloaded a couple of other apps out of interest but only was looking out of my interest in AIR and not so much because of the usefulness of the app. All gone, I currently have zero AIR apps installed.
The fact I uninstalled them isn’t really the point i’m trying to make, for me, those apps just didn’t add much value so I removed them, that could be the same as on any platform. The thing that bothers me about AIR apps is how few I can be bothered to try. I generally am not that inclined to download and install the applications in the first place. This is because breaking out of the browser breaks up my user experience. I love RIAs, I love the ease in which I can access, use and share them. These things just aren’t as good when I have to download and install the application I want to use, I just want to use it.
Okay, so the features that AIR offers aren’t available to the Flash player and I do think those features are hugely valuable. I just don’t think running an RIA as a completely separate entity to the browser works too well. A large draw for an RIA is simplicity and availability, both of which out-of-browser RIAs restrict.
Take Buzzword, which is a truely remarkable RIA and in my opinion is superior to any other online AND offline wordprocessing tool. I’ve not seen the AIR version of it which I believe is on it’s way and I can already see that what AIR offers will be a great addition to it. But wouldn’t it be even better if all the connectivity detection, local file storage, drag and drop etc were available to the in-browser version? If installing AIR gave me all those capabilities as an in-browser resource as well as a stand-alone runtime? Okay so no custom chrome for in-browser. Big deal! Apps like Buzzword already stamp such an impression with their branding and interface you really easily forget you have some boring browser buttons up there. We now have full-screen in Flash Player, let’s work out those secrity issues and make more use of that.
I know it’s not so easy with all the security sandbox constraints of running in browser but is there really that much difference to me saying “yes let this application i’m installing have access to the nether regions of my PC” vs “Oh, I tried to do something in this online app that wants access to my PC? Oh go on then let it”.
Security gurus can tell me that what i’m asking for isn’t possible and why it shouldn’t be, but I feel as long as I ultimately make the decision on what does and doesn’t have access then it shouldn’t matter whether this is in or out of browser. Am I alone in thinking this? Is this something that will be possible in the not-too-distant? I’ve not done enough homework to answer that but it certainly makes more sense to me as in some ways AIR feels like we’re taking a step backwards.
Well, yes, you’re right, the various browsers people choose to use might someday support the greater functionality developers desire for new types of applications… as you mention, the security aspects would be tricky, because a browser is oriented to being a safe way to get functionality from strangers, but there might someday be a sound way to support these types of functionality in the different brands of browsers people choose to use.
But even Mozilla is looking to beyond-the-browser work, with their Prism announcement. Do you see a plausible way that a pure browser-only situation might someday come about…?
jd/adobe
Hey Danny, I remember your LFPUG presentation, I was most interested at the time.
I wouldn’t disagree with any of your post, but I’ll add what AIR brings to me, if I may.
It enables me (as a flash/flex developer) to produce a purely desktop app using my existing skills. In addition I can produce the same application for on-line browser hosted use with only small and appropriate changes. That’s a big win for my employers, since we need both DVD and web based versions.
I guess both versions have their pluses and minuses, and I’ve not thought of any great advantages for a hybrid model either.
The problem with allowing local permissions to web apps is a tricky one. It has been done with activeX and java applets, but I have a feeling that the problem is that most people just don’t understand what they are agreeing to. Thus very many got their machines compromised by bad people. I don’t have any good answers myself!
Cheers,
Jim.
“I’ve not seen the AIR version of it which I believe is on it’s way and I can already see that what AIR offers will be a great addition to it. But wouldn’t it be even better if all the connectivity detection, local file storage, drag and drop etc were available to the in-browser version?”
Not if your on the train and can’t get online
I think there’s only going to be a couple of applications that really need to be running outside the browser.
I think part of the problem is that AIR is young, it’s not even released yet, so a lot of developers are just playing with it and as a result, the apps they’re building aren’t very useful.
I do think that one of the coolest things about AIR/Flex/Flash is that developers will be able to have demo applications that run in the browser, and you can download and install a desktop application (to get offline persistence, file access, etc.) when you want to start working with real data. Think of the online version as a demo that doesn’t require any install.
Both the apps you used, Pownce and Finetune, are probably not needed outside the browser, just like you found. With Pownce, i’d rather just have a button on my Firefox that I drop a photo or link on.
Now, if someone just created a script that would automatically uninstall all the AIR apps I’ve installed…..that would save me some solid time from going into Control Panel to remove everything.
JD – Okay, I do sympathise that no-one has control over the browsers except the browsers themselves. But it just seems logical to me that because the border between “safe” browser functionality and “web-enabled” desktop application functionality is so blurred is there still a big enough arguement to still stick by those security restrictions?
As a half-way house, would it perhaps be feasible to run an AIR app as a sort of windows service. Then, from a browser app, communicate to it via local-connection or xml sockets (when implemented) to provide access to AIR-only functionality?
Jim – “…the problem is that most people just don’t understand what they are agreeing to”. Good comment and I agree completely, perhaps the best way forward is to try to educate better security practices to the masses. ‘The
browser is safe’ argument doesn’t really cut it for me as it’s the browser that leads to the uneducated to downloading infinite amounts of chat clients, smiley packages, mp3s, media players and whatever potentially unsafe software they choose to run unrestricted.
Tink – “Not if your on the train and can’t get online” I can still launch my browser when I’m on the train, internet connection regardless “AIR-the-fictional-in-browser-runtime” would see that I’m trying to launch my online app, know that I’m offline and display the app accordingly.
Todd – yes that’s pretty much what I was trying to get across in my post, the apps i’ve used haven’t been that useful but that’s the apps’ fault not AIR’s… The whole demo-download AIR-download app-install-use process would be a whole lot easier if I could just demo-download AIR-use. This would also solve your add/remove programs issue too.
Thanks for the kind words about Buzzword. Here are a couple of quick thoughts:
1) Sadly, it’s not as simple as just working out security issues. There are many technical issues with browser/Flash interaction that prevent Buzzword from being all it can be within the browser. For example, rich text clipboard and keyboard management is practically impossible to get right inside the browser, though Buzzword comes darn close. Still, every new browser release means a scramble to fix whatever got broke. I realize that these problems could theoretically be fixed too, but the point is that developers can’t control the destiny of the browser — these disconnects have always been there, they’ll probably always be there.
2) I appreciate your comments about how good Buzzword looks even inside a browser. However, if you’ve ever seen a screen shot of someone using Buzzword with ten different browser toolbars enabled… it’s not a pretty sight. We’re really looking forward to having complete control over the chrome in order to give users the best possible experience. Right now, IE in full screen mode is the best approximation, but we can do even better.
To your point that running RIAs outside the browser isn’t necessarily what users want… our current stance about Buzzword is that we expect that most users will use Buzzword from more than one computer. On their main desktop or laptop machine, they’ll choose the AIR version so as to get the best user experience, offline editing, better compatibility with other applications via the clipboard, and so on. When they’re at another machine, they’ll use the browser version because it’s quicker and easier to get up and running. We’re pretty sure that we need both models for a complete experience.
-David Coletta
Buzzword Developer, Virtual Ubiquity Inc.
You’re judging security from the standpoint of someone who understands computers, browsers, applications, sandboxes and all that other stuff. It’s not gonna happen, believe me.