Looking at the OpenLaszlo.org website I read: "The only write once,
run anywhere rich Internet application development framework". Nicely
phrased, so where's my mobile runtime for OpenLaszlo?
OpenLaszlo has the reputation of a technically advanced, promising RIA
solution - but to be always a bit late when it comes to picking up on
new trends for the web, like mobile apps, iPhone, touch enabled UIs,
etc.
Currently the outside view on Laszlo, OpenLaszlo and Webtop is: Mobile
internet, mobile apps? Wo cares about mobile apps, we don't need them!
Let's just ignore the global trend towards mobile apps, smartphone
applications. Expressed in LZX:
mobileAppSpace.animate("opacity", 0.0, 100);
Ok, I'm very sarcastic here, I guess. I'm not saying that there are no
internal discussion at Laszlo going on, which I am not part of. But
then, try a Google search for the terms "openlaszlo mobile", and all
you see is Orbit, a dead project launched in 2006.
https://www.google.com/search?hl=en&source=hp&q=openlaszlo+mobile&aq=f&aqi=&aql=&oq=&gs_rfai=
Hence, I'm considering to launch a separate project unifying community
efforts to deploy OpenLaszlo applications on mobile devices. That
won't be a fork of OpenLaszlo, but more a set of extensions to get
OpenLaszlo running on devices, deploy OpenLaszlo apps as Adobe AIR 2.0
apps, optimized application for the mobile Flash 10.1 player, etc.
Currently I'm looking for other community members or sponsors
interested in creating such a project, all the source code produced
would be released under a more community, open source friendly license
than the outdated CPL 1.0 used for OpenLaszlo (which I believe should
be updated to the EPL, as recommended by IBM, the original creator of
the CPL 1.0).
Feel free to join the discussion at
http://groups.google.com/group/mobile-openlaszlo?lnk=gcimh.
- Raju
