Mozilla Prism

[SimplyArun]

...
Prism is an application that lets users split web applications out of their browser and run them directly on their desktop.
http://people.mozilla.com/%7Efaaborg/files/prism/announcement/refracting550.png
Prism lets users add their favorite web apps to their desktop environment:
http://people.mozilla.com/%7Efaaborg/files/prism/announcement/startmenu550.png
When invoked, these applications run in their own window:
http://people.mozilla.com/%7Efaaborg/files/prism/announcement/googleCalendar550.png
They are accessible with Control-Tab, Command-Tab, and Exposé, just like desktop apps. And users can still access these same applications from any web browser when they are away from their own computers.



The Best of Both Worlds
Prism isn’t a new platform, it’s simply the web platform integrated into the desktop experience. Web developers don’t have to target it separately, because any application that can run in a modern standards-compliant web browser can run in Prism. Prism is built on Firefox, so it supports rich internet technologies like HTML, JavaScript, CSS, and <canvas> and runs on Windows, Mac OS X, and Linux.
And while Prism focuses on how web apps can integrate into the desktop experience, we’re also working to increase the capabilities of those apps by adding functionality to the Web itself, such as providing support for offline data storage and access to 3D graphics hardware.
http://people.mozilla.com/%7Efaaborg/files/prism/announcement/comparison550.png

...
http://labs.mozilla.com/2007/10/prism/

[eilsoe]

How is this different from just having web targeted shortcuts on your desktop? I mean, what do we *really* gain from using it?

[hybrid101]

alt tab ftw:D

though i doubt i'll be using this, since i like my stuff in one firefox window:P

[SimplyArun]

How is this different from just having web targeted shortcuts on your desktop? I mean, what do we *really* gain from using it?

http://people.mozilla.com/%7Efaaborg/files/prism/announcement/comparison550.png

This chart pretty much sums it up.

[DDD]

Bah, I guess its too early on a monday morning but I actually dont understand that chart nor see the woohoo in this.

[Pasquale]

I usually have my browser open more than my desktop :S

[Templarian]

Yea, there are programs that already do this... never really understood why... would be nice if it was standalone application kind of creating applications that just open a web page. Should be nice... I guess.

[MTsoul]

Adobe AIR and Microsoft Silverlight seem to accomplish exactly the same thing...

[hl]

Google Gears

[wo1olf]

how about doing the reverse thing? I mean have your app run through ur browser...? (reverse prism?)

[SimplyArun]

well folks, the point here is, unlike google gears, air, silverlight, etc, prism combines the best of both traditional client side applications and web based applications - which means people get benefits like

zero installation
invisible updates
access to local storage
3d hardware acceleration
...etc

Unlike Adobe AIR and Microsoft Silverlight, we’re not building a proprietary platform to replace the web. We think the web is a powerful and open platform for this sort of innovation, so our goal is to identify and facilitate the development of enhancements that bring the advantages of desktop apps to the web platform.

[hybrid101]

isn't prism open source as well?

[ajcates]

I think wo1olf is on to something, how cool would it be to have just a firefox window, and have tabs for different open apps, I think that is future.(I think in theory you can write an extension to do this)

[SimplyArun]

isn't prism open source as well?
oh yes of course


I think wo1olf is on to something, how cool would it be to have just a firefox window, and have tabs for different open apps, I think that is future.(I think in theory you can write an extension to do this)

guess that's going to be one of the prospective features on FF3, but understandably there are limits to the local resources that web applications can access, compared to desktop apps.

[ajcates]

No im talking about having flash open in a tab in Firefox, also having my file browser in there. Konqoruer is the closest to realizing this, but kde is dropping konq as an all one and making it a web browser.

[Esherido]

I'm using Prism right now, have been for weeks, and it's pretty nice.

[wiifanatic]

Kirupa Bookmarklet (http://henriwatson.com/etc/kirupa.webapp) ;)

[BS]

I wish i worked with OSX

[wiifanatic]

It does ¬_¬
I use OS X

Image (http://img148.imageshack.us/img148/6418/picture1cs0.jpg)

Download For OS X (Universal) (http://people.mozilla.org/%7Emfinkle/prism/prism-0.8-mac.dmg)

Where i got it (http://wiki.mozilla.org/WebRunner#Installer)

[BS]

^Oh Thanks I checked the site last week and there was no OS X download

[wiifanatic]

Your welcome :)