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Today I read about Curl and was pretty skeptical about it. From Curl’s website:

With the Curl Rich Internet Application Platform, organizations can easily migrate critical client-server applications to the web without sacrificing highly-interactive complex functionality.

The Curl Rich Internet Application Platform enables a new class of highly interactive, web based applications. For the first time, organizations can:

* Quickly build browser-based applications that are as powerful as any client-server solution
* Migrate legacy applications to the web without re-architecting
* Easily deploy complex applications across geographical and technological boundaries
* Extend access to critical applications to employees, partners and customers without sacrificing security

Only Curl makes the Internet a viable platform for delivering the complex business applications that are currently limited to client-server environments.

Obviously the management of Curl knows that the existance of Adobe Flex, Silverlight and AJAX and personally, I believe although they fight a common ground, they have their own developer’s advantage, being:

a. Adobe Flex appeals to Flash, Actionscript developers and for developers who wish to maintain 1 code base for application that can be deployed on desktop, web and across platform. Anyone with Flash Player can play, which is 98%. When done right, boost an application of insane interactivity like [->http://iminlikewithyou.com]

b. Silverlight, will appeal to Microsoft developers of course, which is bigger than Actionscript developers. I never like Silverlight but I admit they have their own market

c. AJAX. When done right, the application that comes out of AJAX can be more light weight than Flex and Silverlight.

From Curl’s Faq page, this seems to be their answer

Until now, there have been two types of development tools:

• Development tools that excel at engineering high-performance complex applications traditionally delivered over a client/server network
• Development tools that are well suited for presentation-intensive client-side web applications

Curl is the first development platform that supports both parts of the development process and makes it possible to build highly complex, enterprise-class applications and deliver them over the Internet.

Curl is the only platform that excels for both presentation and programming, so that applications spanning the entire content spectrum can be built efficiently within one unified framework

So how complex can it exactly be?
I go ahead to install the Curl Runtime and tries to run an application from their demo page. Tried to run 2 applications, 1 crashed the browser and another one shows but auto-hide whenever I tried to click on it. Therefore, I tried the Facebook Graph application it shows on other website. but this is what I get

Maybe I am missing something, as InfoWorld names Curl as Technology of the Year for the Best Rich Internet Application Platform for 2008

The Developers Community
How Curl will proceed will largely depends on its developers’ community. From what I read, it looks like Curl’s fighting ground will be Entreprise applications, and its security model, which it boost to be more secure than Flex. My take is that building Curl applications requires developers that is able to do that. There will also be a need of a compelling reason for companies not to develop on other platforms, which sometimes is being dedicated by what its existing developers can do (this is especially true for startups)

In short, I feel that Curl might have a hard fight ahead. Flex, AJAX and their developers are definitely pushing more amazing applications than what we have saw in 2007. The momentum is set and it is moving faster. Will Curl be able to stand in par and have a firm ground on the RIAsphere is yet to be seen.

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