Inside RIA is the new website that OReilly has created covering the rapid emergence of RIA tools and development philosophy on the agendas of IT managers everywhere. And typical of many OReilly books and websites, it is polished and well done. As one who has already moved onto Web 3.0 and RAIA, I have not a passing interest in the web site.
And as to be expected it covers the topic reasonably well, though I am concerned that the manifesto on RIA is somewhat lacking. Its more of open standards and fast development, rather than the essential 3 thrusts of RAIA – to make development of the presentation layer 1)independent of the type media and delivery method chosen to be used, 2)able to deliver one core set of code across OS and hardware device used, and c)to do so efficiently, securely and economically such that two or more separate programming code bases do not have to be maintained as is currently the case with PC desktop GUI interfaces, then WeB site pages delivering essentially the same services, and then a third or forth program offering on mobile or kiosk apps.
There is asecond potential show stopper on the early version of the website I have seen here – that is the OReilly only books and events featured so far. One of the blights upon development and Open Standards ahas been the approach taken in Redmond where there is onluy one OS, one Office Suite and one set of utility services supporting these that really matter. If Inside RIA cannot see beyond the admittedly very useful coverage of OReilly, then this will become just a marketing site and not a universal RIA resource. I promise to return in a quarter or two and see how the site has matured.