It looks like Adobe AIR and Microsoft Silverlight have something to watch out for from Mozilla. The same Firefox browser developers are preparing their latest endeavor – Prism, a new application that will bring most web applications to the desktop, similar to what those two products have been doing right now.
Mozilla is about to unleash Prism’s third beta release any time now. Once out, you can start downloading it and install on your desktop to let you pull your favorite web apps, such as Gmail or YouTube out of your web browser and then let it run as a stand-alone application on your desktop. Â The third beta release of Prism is the most stable version yet and is almost close to being the final release version, according to Mozilla.
Now, why should Adobe AIR and Microsoft Silverlight be worried about Prism? Â That’s because Prism might just steal their users especially since it promises to bring in a simpler way of making things done with regards to pulling web apps and bringing them into the desktop.
While Adobe AIR and Silverlight maybe great apps themselves, both are too heavy on the system resources side and running them can be a pain most of the time. Mozilla on the other hand promises a lightweight, easy-to-install  and use tool with Prism. Once installed, all you need to do is plugin the URL of the web app, give your app a name, then wait for Prism to get the favicon for the app and turn it into a desktop icon, and then you can use it from your desktop menu.
Alright, that’s still tedious. It would be even better if you use Firefox Prism plugin. Just right-click on any webpage and you will be given the option to turn it into a Prism app. Now that’s easier.
If you want to try out Prism, visit this site.
Originally posted on January 13, 2010 @ 5:38 pm