So, Apollo is catching on, and the apps are starting to roll out. Some of them sound cool, and I’d like to try out more of them, but I run into a couple of things…
While it’s relatively easy to install an Apollo app, you do have to download the .air and launch it, go through the install process, and launch the program. Again, this is pretty painless, but it’s a few extra steps when you are used to just going to a web page and seeing the app appear.
Installing the app feels a bit like a commitment. Yes, I would like to download and install this item as one of the trusted applications on my computer. If I decide I don’t want it later, I know that I’ll be taking a trip into Add/Remove Programs and scrolling around trying to find it to nuke it.
You start building up all these installed apps on your desktop, start menu, etc. that are often just cute things you wanted to check out, but will never really use. Gets kludgy.
Fortunately, I see a really simple solution to this. One that is pretty unique in the history of applications. Developers should just make web-based demos of their Apollo apps. This, in most cases, is incredibly easy, and is one of the huge advantages Apollo has over something like WPF. Chances are the Apollo specific features of your app are relatively minor. Most of the functionality is straight AS3 or Flex. Most Apollo apps could be easily converted to web based apps very quickly, especially if they were built with that in mind.
Doing this allows me to play with a version of your app with no commitment. I can see what it’s going to look like and how it’s going to function, at least with a subset of features, all right in my browser. If I like it, then I can install it. If not, just close the browser or navigate away. There might be a concern that this will limit the actual installs, if people can play with the web based version. But honestly, I’ve heard of many Apollo apps that I just haven’t bothered to download and install, even though they might sound kind of interesting. I would have definitely checked out a web version and probably installed some of them.
This opens the door to a trial / full version economy, really easily. Like some of those PopCap games, where you can play a limited version on line, or pay a few bucks to down load the full version. Utterly simple to do this kind of thin with Flash/Flex and Apollo. If done right, it’s the same code base, just different targets.
I hope to see more people taking advantage of this kind of thing. I think it will really help push Apollo’s success.