Web applications are not something new – they’ve existed for years, in different forms and with different technologies. Lately, these applications have become more and more like the applications we have installed on our computers and use in the day-to-day work, so called desktop applications. As the functionality and usability progresses with these web applications, we grow more effective in our work using them. And, they have an advantage over desktop applications: no installation is required and the application is available everywhere that there’s a computer with an Internet connection.

Although many of these Rich Internet Applications (RIA) exists in the browser, that doesn’t necessarily have to be the case. New technologies such as Adobe AIR and Mozilla Prism make it possible to install the application as a traditional desktop application, but with all the advantages from a RIA. To include constantly changing information from the web and integrate with other web services such as YouTube and Google Maps is all made possible with this technology.

This week, one of the largest newspapers in the world – The New York Times – launched a desktop RIA for reading their paper online. It’s called Times Reader and includes all published articles from a week back. As they put it: “It reads like a newspaper. Updates like a Web site. And delivers like The New York Times.”

Seeing a company such as The New York Times, traditionally associated with an “old media” launching a Rich Internet Application is a strong sign of the impact of RIAs, be it in the browser or on the desktop.

For more reading:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rich_Internet_application
http://www.adobe.com/products/air/
http://timesreader.nytimes.com/timesreader/
http://prism.mozilla.com/

Tags: rich internet application, new york times, times reader, desktop