Is Mozilla Labs trying to compete with Adobe AIR/Microsoft Silverlight? That is the first question which struck my mind when I heard the news about Mozilla’s Prism. Yeah, Prism. It is Mozilla’s new attempt to bring web-applications to desktop users.
So what does this mean for an end-user like you and me? First of all, it is not a replica of AIR or Silverlight. The concept is different and the single most important factor that is driving Prism is to bridge the user-experience gap between web applications and desktop apps.
Prism will enable computer users to add their favorite Web applications to desktop, when 
they click on the icon corresponding to the web application it will launch in a window. Prism empowers the users with various options like Control Tab, Command Tab and Expose key functions, just like a typical desktop application. Not only that, users can access their favorite web-applications from any Web browser when they are away from the computer.
Prism means cool news for web application developers. From now-on they do not have to write fresh code for their applications to function with Prism. Apparently, any application that runs in a “modern standards-compliant Web browser” will function in Prism.
Prism is developed on Firefox’s engine, so it offers supports for HTML, JavaScript, CSS and Canvas. While a Windows version is currently available for testing purposes, early editions for the Mac and Linux are in the pipeline.
A news statement by Mozilla said, “Prism isn’t a new platform.” “It’s simply the Web platform integrated into the desktop experience.”
Mozilla XULRunner is the competition for AIR/Silverlight. Prism is a very interesting move by Mozilla, and it may prove the demise of browsers almost all together if it’s successful. I wrote a lot about it on CenterNetworks…
Last week, I ended up with installing the Prism. A result of Mozilla Lab : attempt of incorparating the web into the desktop appications.
Ultimately, the Life without internet is going to be harder. With this application/extension the web applications are going to be pulled into your desktop as an icon and it is just an object in your desktop.
I am using Gmail and Yahoo mail through it.
Clean and neat. No back and other awkward buttons!
I would highly recommend it.
[...] You really have to try this to see the possibilities. Learn more about it and download Prism for mac, windows or linux here. Get a few more takes on Prism here, here and here. [...]