Kevin Lynch posted last week about Flash applications that are “starting to appear.” However not everything done in Flash is a rich internet application, and it is a challenge to sift through these showase sites to find great examples. There is a fine line between dynamic content and a web application.

I’ve spent some time over the past week trying to understand my own definition of a “Rich Internet Application.” I discovered that in my mind I have mapped “Rich Internet Applications” to “good user interface design.” Perhaps I’ve been drinking too much Kool-Aid…

Macromedia writes that “Rich Internet Applications combine the functionality of desktop software applications with the broad reach and low-cost deployment of web applications

“Of course the people don’t want war. But after all, it’s the leaders of the country who determine the policy, and it is always a simple matter to drag the people along, whether it is a democracy, or a fascist dictatorship … Voice or no voice, the people can always be brought to the bidding of the leader. This is easy. All you have to do is tell them you’re being attacked and denounce the pacifists for lack of patriotism and exposing the country to danger. It works the same in every country.”
                 — Herman Goering, Hitler’s second in command

Support our troops. Stop the war.

I must have been living under a rock… Ward Cunningham is my newest hero. He developed WikiWikiWeb in 1995. It has clearly evolved a lot over the years and now has some nice spin-off open source efforts. “Wiki Wiki” means “quick” in Hawaiian and it sure is a quick way to make a site. Anyone can edit and add links, and even delete. Order is kept through social contract rather than by rules enforced through the software.

It took me only a few minutes to install UseModWiki this morning — it will take me quite a bit longer to learn about Wiki culture and how to successfully cultivate a Wiki.

btw: I think that the rock I’ve been living under might be called “living in the world of proprietary software” or “search engines don’t index dynamic content.” Of course, maybe the internet is just a really big place with a lot of people doing neat stuff.