Apollo applications do not require a backend to run

I was reading again the Renaun Erickson 's  post about Apollo and I found some very interesting comments by Mike Chambers :

Mike Chambers' first comment on Apollo :

I just want to calrify, that Apollo applications do not require a backend to run. They can connect to and leverage backend services (The ApolloTunes application was loading album art, and related artists from a web service).

As far as connecting to local databases, that may also be possible.

Mike Chambers' first comment on Apollo :

One, one option, regardless if we support it directly, is to you conenct to the DB via ActionScript and communicate over the socket.

Should be possible, and I dont think it would be long before someone wrote libraries to make it easier.

Comments

[Marco Casario]

Hi Renaun,
it all depends on needs.

In some cases it could be useful to have a standalone desktop application that stores data locally without any remote conection.

Can't wait to see how Apollo will evolve ..

[Renaun Erickson]

I think most applications will require some type of access to the outside world (be it occasionally or always).

But there are many types of applications that could be done with out a backend. Like a photo editor, with Flash 8's Bitmap API and JPEG compressions, you could conceivable create a photo editor. But why stop there, connect it to Flcker and now you have an automated photo editor and Flcker loader.

Many more possibilities than just that, the blurring of web and desktop application is so cool it could very well redefine how application are created.