Open Web vs. Rich Internet Applications

Ryan Stewart made a post on his blog regarding the ongoing battle of words between the open source/open web community and large development companies. The open community has always asked demanded that large developers open up their source so that the entire development community may benefit and make progress towards better products. Obviously, when RIA (Rich Internet Applications) are involved, this becomes even more of a hot issue because the web is involved.

In the post, Ryan says:

It’s a funny thing to think about but I think it’s indicative of wider problems between the “open web” and RIA vendors. The basic issue is that everyone’s too combative. I wish more open web people would look at what both Microsoft and Adobe are doing and see that all in all, the RIA solutions are becoming more open, not less. In fact, I’d argue that RIAs have moved the entire web in a more open direction.

I agree that the level combative speech on the web regarding these sorts of issues helps no one in the end. As Ryan states later in the post, a lot of the big boys are beginning to open up chunks of their proprietary work to help the open source community in adapting their software onto other platforms. They’ve been forced to realize the efficacy in doing this.

Whether or not the proliferation of RIAs will occur in all sectors of business is yet to be seen, but I’m confident that even if the largest development companies choose to keep their code closed, there will be open source alternatives. The conceptual foundation of the RIA is far too impressive to be left alone.