Where does the 'Installable' part of IIA come from? Just that the application can be run from a desktop or server as well as within a browser? To me, the term suggests that the application would undergo an installation process over and above downloading a some jars & potentially setting the classpath.
Also the 'Internet' part suggests that Pivot contains some substantial code to perform Internet based tasks. Is this really the case? I haven't worked with any of the web/web server classes yet, so honestly don't know. Is there something I am overlooking? Obviously Pivot *can* be used to write connected applications, but in much the same way it *could* be used to write just about any time of application. Perhaps your text should mention that the same application is portable and can be run on a desktop or mobile device directly or through a browser. Sorry that I can't be more constructive right now! I'll think it over a bit more and get back to you with anything useful. On 6 January 2011 05:50, Greg Brown <[email protected]> wrote: > Hi all, > > I have recently been thinking that we might want to do some "rebranding". > When we started this project nearly 4 years ago, our goal was to create a > Java-based RIA platform that could realistically compete with the > industry-leading Flex and Silverlight. I think we have accomplished that. > The forthcoming Pivot 2.0 release is easily the best one yet. > > Unfortunately, browser plugins have fallen out of favor in recent years, > and many developers seem to think that the future of web-based RIA is HTML > 5. Still, I believe that there are many developers out there (myself > included) who would would prefer to continue building user interfaces in > Java. > > Since the term "RIA" implies "web browser" to many developers, I have been > trying to come up with a new acronym. I thought about a number of different > possibilities but the one that seemed to fit best was "Installable Internet > Application" (IIA). Most end users are already comfortable with the concept > of downloading and installing an application, both on the desktop as well as > on a mobile device. It would be great if there was a common development > platform that could be used to build applications that target all major > desktop OSes as well as mobile devices capable of running a JVM - I think > that Pivot should be that platform. We're not quite there yet, but I have > been working on some ideas for Pivot 3.0 and I will be sharing them soon. > > Next week, we'll be issuing a press release to coincide with the 2.0 > release. I think it makes sense to update the homepage at the same time to > reflect this new branding. Here's what I came up with: > > --- > Apache Pivot is an open-source platform for building installable Internet > applications (IIAs). It combines the enhanced productivity and usability > features of a modern user interface toolkit with the robustness of the > industry-standard Java platform. > > Why Pivot? > Pivot allows developers to easily construct visually-engaging, > cross-platform, connected applications in Java or any other JVM language, > such as JavaScript, Groovy, or Scala. Pivot is also the only truly open IIA > framework: it is completely open source, and is driven entirely by the > software development community. > > Pivot enables developers to build solutions using the tools they already > know and love, decreasing delivery time and reducing technology sprawl. > --- > > Please let me know what you think. > > Thanks, > Greg > >
