It's an exciting time to be involved with RIA. The world is changing. The web has moved beyond the traditional website into an entirely new arena. It seems like every day there's another release of a new and exciting technology. Desktop-capable web applications are emerging for nearly every industry. Here are a few areas that seem to be exceptionally "hot". By no means is this a definitive list, just a few that caught my attention.
Productivity Applications
From word processing, to presentations, to spreadsheets, to workflow daigrams... There are lots of desktop-quality productivity applications emerging on the web. Perfect examples of this are Buzzword, Google docs, Google calendar, SlideRocket, LovelyCharts, Gliffy, and Zoho.
Graphics Applications
I have yet to see a full-featured web-based photoshop clone, but I have no doubt people are going to try it. Picnik and SplashUp are a good start. Both of these enable rich image editing through web based applications. If you haven't checked them out yet, you should. You will be impressed.
Mapping
Mapping is absolutely one of the hottest emerging trends in RIA. There are not only applications for viewing maps, but also for building mapping into your own applications... Which has led to mashup overload. However, when used properly it can be extremely helpful. The integration of spatial data and analytical data in the same application can make you data easier to understand and interact with. Everything from crime statistics to real estate, even gps tracking... its all available on the web now. If you haven't already, you should check these out... PushPin, Yahoo Maps, Google Maps, mapquest, ESRI, Virtual Earth, Maps 24
Internet TV
Video is everywhere now, and its not going away. Everything from YouTube, Brightcove, to FireBrand is getting into the mix. Almost every TV news station is starting to air newscasts on the web. This isn't your grandma's Internet. Silverlight has upped the game, and Adobe has stepped up as well. This is certainly an area of growth, where we'll see exciting things in the future.
Integrated Development Environments
Yep, thats right. IDEs on the web. Not quite like running Eclipse, or Visual Studio, but simple IDEs are emerging for things like interactive data dashboards and simple application frameworks. I have had the opportunity to work on a few. Once they're no longer under NDA, I'll be sure to talk about them some more.
Messaging
There are lots of initiatives to bring desktop-style messaging to the web. Some great examples of this are Yahoo Messenger and Meebo. Both integrate directly with the existing chart networks, and can communicate with desktop clients. Now, companies like Ribbit are starting to emerge, bringing actual VoIP telephone communication to the web.
Analytical Applications
There are lots of analytical applications being built. Everything from banking and financial analysis and banking to stock market trending, to nearly anything that can be represented by a graph. If there is a need, then its being built.