Hi all, I have recently been thinking that we might want to do some "rebranding". When we started this project nearly 4 years ago, our goal was to create a Java-based RIA platform that could realistically compete with the industry-leading Flex and Silverlight. I think we have accomplished that. The forthcoming Pivot 2.0 release is easily the best one yet.
Unfortunately, browser plugins have fallen out of favor in recent years, and many developers seem to think that the future of web-based RIA is HTML 5. Still, I believe that there are many developers out there (myself included) who would would prefer to continue building user interfaces in Java. Since the term "RIA" implies "web browser" to many developers, I have been trying to come up with a new acronym. I thought about a number of different possibilities but the one that seemed to fit best was "Installable Internet Application" (IIA). Most end users are already comfortable with the concept of downloading and installing an application, both on the desktop as well as on a mobile device. It would be great if there was a common development platform that could be used to build applications that target all major desktop OSes as well as mobile devices capable of running a JVM - I think that Pivot should be that platform. We're not quite there yet, but I have been working on some ideas for Pivot 3.0 and I will be sharing them soon. Next week, we'll be issuing a press release to coincide with the 2.0 release. I think it makes sense to update the homepage at the same time to reflect this new branding. Here's what I came up with: --- Apache Pivot is an open-source platform for building installable Internet applications (IIAs). It combines the enhanced productivity and usability features of a modern user interface toolkit with the robustness of the industry-standard Java platform. Why Pivot? Pivot allows developers to easily construct visually-engaging, cross-platform, connected applications in Java or any other JVM language, such as JavaScript, Groovy, or Scala. Pivot is also the only truly open IIA framework: it is completely open source, and is driven entirely by the software development community. Pivot enables developers to build solutions using the tools they already know and love, decreasing delivery time and reducing technology sprawl. --- Please let me know what you think. Thanks, Greg
