- Pentaho BI Server. Their new Mantle UI is build with GWT and is a huge jump beyond the old interface. It just behaves like a stand-alone application. Some of the components, especially jPivot, could use an update, but the Server platform is in a great place to organize all of these new features. With the modular design of BI Server 3.0, Pentaho users will be seeing a great deal of new reporting and analytic tools they can plug in.
- G.ho.st, the globally hosted operating system, is a virtual computer that you can access from anywhere. You have a full GUI, built in OpenLaszlo, apparently by their team of only 30-40 staff. Ghost seeks to provide a free, web-based virtual computer for anyone in the world. The UI is fast and simply doesn't feel like a browser. Have a look.
- LZPIX is another OpenLaszlo application for viewing photos on Flickr. The link is to the Flash version, there is also a DHTML version and you can see the source code as well. On a side note, open the application and search for 'toureiffel' , the photo Paris s'éveille is magnificent!
- Maple is another interesting tool to view photos, but it is designed for multimedia slide shows. This can run as either a Java application or a a Java Applet. It uses Java 6, and my shiny new Mac only has Java 5, so the only way for me to view this is running a VM with either Windows or Linux so I can install Java 6, which was released in December 2006. Come on Apple, is it not possible to get the bugs out in 2 1/2 years!? Oh well, one more reason to hope for Snow Leopard. I just hope that they have a Java 6 upgrade for Leopard, since I can't run Snow Leopard on the older G4/G5 Macs. I was going to ask why Java applets didn't catch on like Flash applets, but I guess when you have trouble accessing a consistent Java platform across OS/X and Windows, the answer is clear. This is unfortunate, as Maple is a great slide show viewer. Java really does work, it is just a shame that it has been held captive by an Apple or Microsoft.
- Ben Fry's zipdecode. Try this and tell me why this shouldn't be part of any application that needs a zip code. It should be easy to gather the data needed to make this international. If I am filling out a web form, why do I have to type in 52302 and then choose Marion, Iowa? There are some zipcodes that server multiple communities, but in that case, I would just need one extra click to pick the city. The only thing I would add to this applet would be a semi-transparent zip code on top of the map.
What we need to do is develop simple, rest-based tools that we can easily drop into web applications. If your application is residing on the web, you should be able to simply reference well designed tools. The current practice of installing web apps on your application's server seems to undercut the promise of the web.
For a coherent theory of how software should be designed for people, I recommend Bret Victor's Magic Ink. He has thought deeply about this, while I am just providing examples.
In some ways, it is possible to outdo stand-alone applications.
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