Adobe’s cross-OS platform Apollo which combines developer tools such as Flash, Ajax, HTML and Javascript, is now officially launched. Apollo should be the next step in the development of RIAs (Rich Internet Applications).

Applications based on Apollo will combine all the benefits of web applications with many traits of desktop applications, for example access to local resources, drag-and-drop functionality, personalization, access to desktop and system shortcuts, access to clipboard, etc.

It is important to note here that although Flash has brought the promise of RIAs and the new generation of web applications, it has never completely caught on, being replaced in many ways by AJAX. The reasons for this are many, the main ones being the fact that Flash applications often ruined the standard web page usability that internet users have grown accustomed to (for example, many Flash apps would not let you copy/paste text; standard right click menu is replaced by Flash’s useless menu, and back button in the browser wouldn’t work as expected). Since Apollo combines both Flash and Ajax, such problems should be avoided, enabling applications based on Apollo to really combine the best of both worlds - web and desktop.

Apollo is currently at alpha stage, but you can already try out some solutions based on it over at Adobe Labs.