At last....

At last Sun has released something that acknowledges the need for a Java response to rich internet applications. The article introducing Java Desktop Integration Components talks of a desire to bridge the gap between 'browser-based applications' and 'rich desktop applications'.

JDIC is just one of a number of Java technologies that can deliver on the desktop, Java Desktop Network Components is another. What is still missing is a clear vision of how all these parts are supposed to be used together for different types of application.

For what its worth, my own preoccupation is with RIA - a possible convergence of 'browser-based' and 'rich desktop' apps accessed through a browser. Sun has seeded the JDIC project with an HTML rendering component and that ought to make a difference, but it has kept to its WORA principles (will the Java Desktop ever get a preferred status?) Consequently the level of control offered is very high-level. Making an HTML canvas available to a Java app, rather than making Java available to the browser still seems to be 'inside-out'.

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