Comments on: Will Apple’s Safari become a rich, Internet application container?

By: Corl DeLuna

Corl DeLuna — Thu, 10 Jul 2008 21:35:03 +0000

Hi, This is just what I’ve been looking for: a way to create applications for Windows/Mac/iPhone using Safari as the rendering engine, without having to be a programmer.

There are many HTML compilers that will turn websites into a Windows applications that uses Internet Explorer as the rendering engine, but they are still Windows only.

What is the current status of this project? And where can I find out more?

Thanks

By: stelt

stelt — Tue, 23 Oct 2007 20:48:21 +0000

And starting version 3, Safari will support SVG. See what a broad spectrum of goodness that brings on http://svg.startpagina.nl

By: Steve Borsch

Steve Borsch — Wed, 20 Jun 2007 04:49:37 +0000

JD: Couldn’t agree more that the approaches, scope, capabilities and goals are different, but I’d argue that the target is the same: accessing the capabilities inherent in the cloud in new and fundamentally more profound ways — and jockeying for position on which is the most successful method.

Which approach is best? Adobe delivering a runtime that straddles the desktop with the cloud? MSFT extending the browser as the container that focuses on the server-side? Or my conjecture about Apple using Safari as a fully self contained container with Quicktime at its core?

There are a helluva lot smarter and more knowledgeable people than I who are investing tremendous effort and energy in these nextgen RIA’s, but I’m trying to be anticipatory over who might move and what they might do…and this Safari move seems pretty obvious.

Whose approach wins will be a marketplace decision.

By: Ryan Stewart

Ryan Stewart — Wed, 20 Jun 2007 04:18:21 +0000

It’s good to have you writing about RIA stuff again, and I thought you’d like that Apple announcement. Safari makes a pretty good platform to build on.

By: John Dowdell

John Dowdell — Tue, 19 Jun 2007 23:42:01 +0000

“… Apple wasn’t taking advantage of Quicktime as a delivery mechanism for cool online-n-offline functionality that is being delivered by Adobe’s AIR and Microsoft’s Silverlight….”

Hi Steve, these three projects are quite different in scope, goals, and capabilities.

The Adobe Integrated Runtime brings web apps to the desktop, and one of the supporting features is an SQLite API to make offline storage easy. (The API will be similar to that used by Google Gears, a browser plugin which includes a local SQLite database.)

Microsoft’s Silverlight is a proposed browser plugin, and has zero connection with local storage, offline synch, or beyond-the-browser web apps.

I have not seen any evidence that Apple’s browser will increase the range of web applications which are executed as JavaScript.

Three different projects, three different scopes. They just hit a similar news cycle, that’s the main commonality.

jd/adobe

By: PXLated

PXLated — Tue, 19 Jun 2007 18:07:38 +0000

To add…
If you watch the Calamari iPhone ad really close you’ll see core animation at work in the Google map. Apple is pulling in data using the Google maps api but everything else is Apple programming using core technologies. Notice how the location pointers fly in and notice how they flex/squat (don’t know the proper Pixar/animation term for this). Core animation at work. To get that same effect in Safari on Windows/Mac, it has to have the core technologies…at least according to all I’ve read.

By: PXLated

PXLated — Tue, 19 Jun 2007 17:57:15 +0000

I think, long-term, it goes beyond the most obvious. When installing Safari on Windows, it installs a bunch of DLLs, the underlying tech. As iTunes infiltrates the Windows world with Quicktime, Safari will infiltrate with core technologies like core audio, core video, core animation, etc. This will allow all kinds of nifty things on Mac/Windows/iPhone.
At this point, I think Safari/Windows is just the testbed/debugger for everything else. In the end it will allow apps on the iPhone that completely blow away all other phones because of the underlying tech and will give the best experience of all cross platform. Same approach as iTunes.