Wednesday, February 06, 2008 4:28 PM/EST
A startup called Blist is aiming to bring improved usability and functionality to Web-based databases.
Most people who have used Web-based office applications will readily admit that they don't offer anywhere near the functionality or even ease of use of desktop office suites, but they do meet the most common everyday needs for these applications.
While this is probably true for word processors, two types of Web-based office applications that haven't done a good job of even meeting the common everyday need criteria are spreadsheets and databases. In most cases, Web-based spreadsheets and databases have provided only the most basic functionality.
Trying to solve both of these problems at once is a new Web-based application provider called Blist. Blist, which launched at the recent Demo show, is a rich Internet application (based on Adobe's Flex technology) that is designed to provide good functionality and ease of use for those looking for a Web-based spreadsheet/database that will meet most common everyday needs.
I signed up for the current beta of Blist this week in order to give it a quick test drive. And I must say that it looks promising, providing a very rich interface and drag-and-drop usability.
Friday, October 05, 2007 2:24 PM/EST
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Currently there is a rush in all technology quarters to change the way that we use productivity applications. The main goal of this movement is to supplement or even replace outright classic office suites. Not surprisingly pretty much all of the major technology companies are involved, including Microsoft and Google.
However, one classic application has been left behind in this movement, namely the database, and those online databases that have appeared have been really just spreadsheets on steroids.
Zoho is One of the smaller vendors in the online office suite market but also has one of the more mature offerings. So it's no surprise that they are one of the first to try to bring true database capabilities to an online suite offering.
I recently spoke to Zoho evangelist Raju Vegesna about a new product, Zoho DB. Zoho DB is designed to be a full database that can step in for database systems such as Oracle, SQL Server and MySQL.
Wednesday, June 13, 2007 3:59 PM/EST
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In the PC era, application development has followed a certain cycle. First there were desktop applications. Then, there were client-server applications. But then came the Web, which produced simple form-based programs. This was followed by the first wave of rich Internet applications, led by Java and Flash.
And then came the triple threat of service-oriented architectures, successful software-as-a-service applications, and sophisticated interactive browser-based application options such as AJAX. Finally we were close to achieving the long sought-after goal of the Web as operating system, where sophisticated applications could be run over the Web without concerns of operating system or physical access.
So what's the current trend in application development? Taking these modern rich Web development tools and using them to create desktop applications. And thus the circle is complete.
Leading the charge in this move is Adobe, a company that owns some of the pioneering technologies in this field, especially when it comes to Flash and its desktop sibling Flex. And with the beta release of its AIR platform (formerly code-named Apollo), Adobe is taking the next step in making this rich Internet application field work without having to be connected to the Internet.
The main component of the AIR platform is the run-time (in fact AIR stands for Adobe Integrated Runtime), which is currently available for Windows and Mac systems. Users mainly interested in seeing what AIR applications look like can install the run-time and download the many sample applications that Adobe has made available.
