POW Competition
From PlainOldWebserver
For many years I have been looking for a system that would allow me to use web programming technology on a local machine. This is a list of some of the alternatives/competition to POW Desktop that I have found.
PortableWebAp includes PHP and SQLite 3.x on CD, DVD, USB, or any directory on any windows 98 or higher pc. Size is only 5mb.
Until POW this was my favorite desktop web environment. In fact I recommended http://www.scottwickham.com/sqlitedm/ it for use with my Sqlite database manager program. The downside was of course it only worked with Windows based systems.
PHPDock http://www.nusphere.com/products/phpdock.htmPhpDock enables you to deploy any PHP web application as a Stand Alone Windows Desktop application w/o any changes in the code. PhpDock combines NuSphere's powerful embeded Srv webserver and browser components. With PhpDock, your php applications will work right out of the box. There's no need to provide long and complicated instructions on Apache and Php installation to your clients. PhpDock site license lets you distribute this deployment solution along with your php applications to provide easy and comprehensive installation and instant functioning of your php scripts.
I don't recall why I passed this one on by because I did try it out in my php phase. I think at the time it was based on php4 so sqlite was not embedded and any development platform without a database layer is pretty useless. I may look into this again they just e-mailed me info about their upgrade. Again windows only.
Boxely allows you to create interactive applications with speed and ease. By using Boxely’s XML markup language and JavaScript you can create rich applications. XML enables rapid, simplified user interface development, where the resulting code is easy to read and understand. Boxely makes it simple to add events because the scripts are written in JavaScript. JavaScript is already widely used on millions of websites today because it is fast, versatile, simple and easy to learn. You can even add pre-built objects and user interface controls that are available in the OCP toolkit as well as build our own custom gadgets. Boxely’s out-of-the-box integration with assistive technologies, such as screen readers and high-contrast color schemes, allows you to expand the reach of your application to include users with disabilities.
Needless to say with such an unclear description of what it is and only windows compatibility I didn't investigate Boxley deeply. Being from AOL its hasn't gotten much press at all.
Apollo http://labs.adobe.com/wiki/index.php/ApolloApollo is a cross-OS runtime that allows developers to leverage their existing web development skills (Flash, Flex, HTML, Ajax) to build and deploy desktop RIA’s.
I haven't used Apollo. Haven't read the documentation. They seem to love it over at Techcrunch http://www.techcrunch.com/2006/12/16/preparing-for-apollo/ I assume it will try to leverage flash. I am not a fan of flash. I like to keep flash for my multimedia. In reading the faq it doesn't seem to have database support built it which I think would be a large weakness.
http://www.macnn.com/articles/07/06/11/adobe.apollo.becomes.air/ This article says Apollo now AIR has added sqlite.
Konfabulator http://widgets.yahoo.com/
Yahoo! Widgets is a free application platform for Mac OS X and Microsoft Windows. The software was previously called Konfabulator, but after being acquired by computer services company Yahoo! it was rebranded. The name Konfabulator was subsequently reinstated [1] as the name of the underlying rendering engine. The engine uses a JavaScript runtime environment combined with an XML interpreter to run small applications referred to as Widgets, and hence is part of a class of software applications called widget engines. - from Wikipedia
I tried out Konfabulator a while ago and dumped it. Here is why. #1 They say it compatible across Windows and Mac. Its not really. You need to put in system specific code or it can only work on one or the other. Second and the deal breaker. It doesn't support HTML. I don't want to put all my content into xml and then use css to format it. I have better things to do with my time.
Sidewinder http://skimstone.x-port.net/about-sidewinder
Sidewinder is a new kind of desktop application framework that uses web languages such as XHTML, SVG, XForms and Ajax, in place of more complex languages such as C++, C# or Java.
Just found this on the web so I know nothing about it. Here is a video presentation. http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=7466594705962010566
Dekoh http://dekoh.com/index.jspLaunched in private beta at the end of February, Dekoh is a cross-platform development framework for deploying Java, Flash, and Ajax applications. Dekoh itself was built using Java. The public alpha launch of Dekoh is April 15th at the Web 2.0 Expo in San Francisco. - from ReadWrite Web
I know I don't want to program in Java. But hey maybe someone will love it.
CURL http://www.curl.com/
Curl provides a Rich Internet Application platform for building and deploying Web-based applications that demand complex, highly interactive interfaces previously only possible as client-server applications. Using Curl, developers can implement a new class of complex, business-critical, Web-based applications that cannot easily be developed with Ajax or other smart client technologies. ...Development and deployment of Curl applications is free for personal use, and pricing for commercial deployments starts at $12,000.
At $12,000 for commercial license I wont be using it.
Joyent Slingshot http://joyeur.com/2007/03/22/joyent-slingshot
Joyent Slingshot allows developers to deploy Rails applications that work the same online and offline (with synchronization) and with drag into and out of the application just like a standard desktop application. We have Joyent Connector and a select group of third party applications working under Joyent Slingshot. Joyent plans to have Slingshot available for general release on both Windows and Macintosh OS X in late April, 2007. If you would like to be considered for a spot an early release tester, please send email to slingshot [at] joyent.com You must be a Rails developer with an application we believe would help us put the final polish on Slingshot.
Haven't used it or even read about it but it goes to show a lot is happening in this space.
Google Gears:http://code.google.com/apis/gears/
Google Gears is an open source browser extension that lets developers create web applications that can run offline. Google Gears consists of three modules that address the core challenges in making web applications work offline. Cache and serve application resources (HTML, JavaScript, images, etc.) locally Store data locally in a fully-searchable relational database Make your web applications more responsive by performing resource-intensive operations asynchronously
Google Gear sounds like a caching server but I will have to learn more.
Some Links on Google Gears Google Gears: Replacing One Problem with Another http://www.25hoursaday.com/weblog/2007/06/06/GoogleGearsReplacingOneProblemWithAnother.aspx
JsWs: http://code.google.com/p/jsws/
JsWs? is an extension for Mozilla, Firefox, XulRunner, etc. that provides a threaded, scriptable HTTP server implemented in pure JavaScript. The server supports dynamic content via "server side" JavaScript pages and SQL database storage via an abstraction of MozStorage. JsWs also supports the concept of virtual directories, allowing other extensions to register content with JsWs. This mapping provides a simple way for developers to deliver JsWs-based applications and content to end users.
Other Tools that I looked at but don't really fit the model. They are more cross platform desktop tools.
REBOL http://www.rebol.com/
PHP-GTK http://gtk.php.net/
Real Basic http://www.realbasic.com/
TCL/TK http://www.tcl.tk/
Runtime Revolution http://www.runrev.com/
Mozilla/XUL http://developer.mozilla.org/en/docs/The_Joy_of_XUL (which is what POW was created in)
Java http://java.sun.com/
MORFIX http://www.morfik.com/
