Adobe Flash manipulates vector and raster graphics to provide animation of text, drawings, and still images. It supports bidirectional streaming of audio and video, and it can capture user input via mouse, keyboard, microphone, and camera. Flash contains an object-oriented language called ActionScript and supports automation via the JavaScript Flash language. Flash content may be displayed on various computer systems and devices, using Adobe Flash Player, which is available free of charge for common web browsers, some mobile phones and a few other electronic devices. Apache Flex, formerly Adobe Flex, is a software development kit for the development and deployment of cross-platform RIAs based on the Adobe Flash platform. Initially developed by Macromedia and then acquired by Adobe Systems, Flex was donated by Adobe to the Apache Software Foundation in 2011.
Java applet
s were used to create interactive visualizations and to present video, three dimensional objects and other media. Java applets were appropriate for complex visualizations that required significant programming effort in a high level language or communications between applet and originating server.
JavaFX
is a software platform for creating and delivering RIAs that can run across a wide variety of connected devices. The current release enables building applications for desktop, browser and mobile phones and comes with 3D support. TV set-top boxes, gaming consoles, Blu-ray players and other platforms are planned. Java FX runs as plug-in Java applet or via Webstart.
was proposed by Microsoft as another proprietary alternative. The technology has not been widely accepted and, for instance, lacks support on many mobile devices. Some examples of application were video streaming for events including the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing, the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver, and the 2008 conventions for both major political parties in the United States. Silverlight was also used by Netflix for its instant video streaming service. Silverlight is no longer under active development and is not supported in Microsoft Edge, Microsoft's most recent browser.
Other techniques
RIAs could use XForms to enhance their functionality. Using XML and XSLT along with some XHTML, CSS and JavaScript can also be used to generate richer client side UI components like data tables that can be resorted locally on the client without going back to the server. Mozilla and Internet Explorer browsers both support this.
History
The terms "rich client" and "rich Internet application" were introduced in a white paper of March 2002 by Macromedia, though the concept had existed for a number of years earlier under names including: "Remote Scripting" by Microsoft in April 1999, "X Internet" by Forrester Research in October 2000, Rich Web application.
Security issues in older standards
RIAs present indexing challenges to Web search engines, but Adobe Flash content is now at least partially indexable. Security can improve over that of application software, but the extensions themselves remain subject to vulnerabilities and access is often much greater than that of native Web applications. For security purposes, most RIAs run their client portions within a special isolated area of the client desktop called a sandbox. The sandbox limits visibility and access to the file-system and to the operating system on the client to the application server on the other side of the connection. This approach allows the client system to handle local activities, reformatting and so forth, thereby lowering the amount and frequency of client-server traffic, especially versus client-server implementations built around so-called thin clients.
HTML5 trend
In November 2011, there were a number of announcements that demonstrated a decline in demand for rich internet application architectures based on plug-ins in order to favor HTML5 alternatives. Adobe announced that Flash would no longer be produced for mobile or TV. Pundits questioned its continued relevance even on the desktop and described it as "the beginning of the end". Research In Motion announced that it would continue to develop Flash for the PlayBook, a decision questioned by some commentators. Rumors state that Microsoft is to abandon Silverlight after version 5 is released. The combination of these announcements had some proclaiming it "the end of the line for browser plug-ins".
