When in doubt, roll your own.
As the multimedia wars continue between Adobe Flash and Microsoft Silverlight, Apple is using Gianduia, a client-side, standards based framework for Rich Internet Apps that it introduced World of WebObjects Developers Conference last summer, to create its own production quality apps.
Gianduia, named after an Italian hazelnut chocolate, is “essentially is browser-side Cocoa (including CoreData) + WebObjects, written in JavaScript by non-js-haters,” according to a tweet by developer Jonathan “Wolf” Rentzsch. “Jaw dropped.”
After watching the NDA demo Apple gave for the new framework at WOWODC last year, Rentzch also tweeted, “Blown away by Gianduia. Cappuccino, SproutCore and JavascriptMVC have serious competition. Serious.”
Per AppleInsider, SproutCore is the JavaScript framework Apple uses to build the web interface for its desktop-like MobileMe web apps. Cappuccino is another third party JavaScript framework that works as a Cocoa-like API for web apps; it was used to deliver 280Slides, a web app designed to provide most of the functionality of Apple’s Keynote desktop application. JavascriptMVC is also an independent open source project used to develop rich apps within JavaScript for web deployment.
Like Cappuccino, Gianduia takes a Cocoa-inspired name (Cocoa is itself a Java-inspired name) to describe its role as a way for Cocoa developers to bring their skills to rich online applications built using web standards, with no need for a proprietary web plugin like Flash or Silverlight.
While the emerging new support for Rich Internet App features in HTML5 is often pitted competitively against Flash, Gianduia, SproutCore and related frameworks demonstrate that sophisticated web apps are already possible using existing web standards and without web plugins.
Apple retails locations have been noticed using Gianduia to create web app clients (which plug into the company’s WebObjects-based services), for a variety of popular programs over the last several months, including its One-to-One program, iPhone reservation system, and its Concierge service for Genius Bar reservations and Personal Shopping (shown below) programs.
While it’s unknown as to what this will turn into, Apple may be able to work around Flash support for its iPhone OS devices in its own way.
Stay tuned for additional details as they become available.
2 replies on “Apple developing its own alternative to Flash via Gianduia”
Gianduia helps to explain why Apple has been so adamant with freezing Adobe out, first technically and now legally. With Adobe’s Open Screen Project, Adobe was on its way toward becoming the bridge that enabled a unified rich experience across all hardware. This would put Adobe in the value position and relegate Apple into the role IBM played all those decades ago. Instead with Guiaduia, Apple provides developers with an alternative to native Objective C development and delivers a viable alternative for RIAs on its hardware – http://blog.inm.com/index.php/2010/05/14/lesson…
would be a great to have a gui for making flash like apps but with Javascript. Trust Apple to think of that.