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Morfik Technology Pty Ltd., an Australian company, is the developer of WebOS AppsBuilder, an Integrated development environment (IDE) aimed at developing Ajax web applications in a high-level language such as Java, C#, Basic or Object Pascal. It offers developers visual designers for not only the presentation layer, but also for the creation of tables and queries. It supports the classic client-server model with all client-side application code being compiled into JavaScript so that it can run natively in the browser without requiring the use of any plug-ins.

Company History

• 1999: The privately-funded company is founded in Hobart, Tasmania, by Aram Mirkazemi and Shahram Besharati.

• September, 2005: The company demonstrates the first (pre-beta) version of the WebOS AppsBuilder at the Web 2.0 Conference. Morfik is a major sponsor of this conference.

• December, 2005: The first version of the WebOS AppsBuilder is released for public evaluation and testing.[1]
• December, 2006: Altium, Ltd. deploys the first commercial application built with WebOS AppsBuilder. It is a mashup with Salesforce.com applications which permits a hierarchial view of all projects managed through Salesforce.com.

• March, 2007: First official v1.0 release. (Name changes to "Morfik 07"). See also [2]

Features and Innovations

• JavaScript Synthesis Technology (JST) : Morfik's patent-pending compiler technology that compiles code written in a high-level languanges such as Pascal, Basic, Java or C# into HTML and JavaScript, for the purpose of running applications written in those languages natively within a Web Browser. This allows developers to build Ajax applications without writing any JavaScript or HTML. This automatically generated javaScript can be complemented with custom in-line JavaScript or by linking-in external handwritten JavaScript code libraries.
• Elastic Page Design: (also patent-pending) enables developers to design complex web interfaces that allow parts of the web page to dynamically adjust their size to suit their content at run-time (fludi layout), whilst maintaining all design-time constraints (fixed layout).
• Unplugged Applications: first showcased at the Web 2.0 Conference in 2005, with an unplugged version of Gmail, Google's AJAX-based mail client. Intended to show that with Morfik AppsBuilder you could create web applications that functioned both online as well as offline. It later showed how to use 'Service Connectors' to provide advanced, built-in, ready-to-go data synchronization for on-demand services such as Salesforce.com and alluded to infrastructure to create peer-to-peer connectivity.
• Class-based object-oriented framework: AppsBuilder utilizes a common framework for both the browser and the server side that is written in a high-level object oriented language
• Visual Development Environment: create forms, query, tables and table relationships via Visual builder. Utilize visual controls which can be placed on web-based Forms or PDF-based reports. Create mahsups with Yahoo/Google maps, integrate Flash and create custom controls easily.
• Database connectivity : Support for Amazon S3 storage for the Internet, other on-demand services such as eBay etcintegration with with Mail services using IMAP, SMTP and POP3;
• High-level source Debugging : Debug errors in browser and server side code from within IDE. Either debug at the h-gh-level source code level or at the automatically generated Javascript code-level. Add breakpoint to pause execution, and view current variable values via mouse hovers. Track all SQL, XML and HTTP actity
• Multi-platform Support : Deploy on Windows or Linux platforms.

Criticisms

• Missing critical features: Although Morfik was a major sponsor of the 2005 Web 2.0 conference it is ironic that both their application as well as their site (which was built with their product) lacks many technological features that have become standard for Web_2.0 sites and companies. these include:
  • CSS: AppsBuilder does not allow developers to base their presentation layer on CSS templates.
  • Syndication and aggregation of data in RSS/Atom: no support for RSS at all
  • Clean and meaningful URLs: A cursory glance at Morfik's web site shows that their implementation of bookmarks is via URLs that typically exceed 700 characters long!
• Aimed at software developers not web developers: Some say that Morfik's emphasis on coding in an object-oriented language such as Java or C# instead of directly coding in JavaScript significantly under-utilizes the skills and knowledges of exisitng web developers, the vast majority of whom are far more skilled in CSS, HTML and JavaScript then in Java.
• Unorthodox method of deployment: Further their choice of creating a web application in a manner that is akin to win32 applications, (namely the web application is output as a .exe file) makes it very hard, if not impossible for many businesses to use their exisitng web hosting packages to host a Morfik-created web application. The existence of an .exe file implies the necessity of paying for a dedicated hosting service, which is generally a magnitude more expensive than hosting a conventional web site.
• Is search-engine unfriendly:

Morfik Applications Gallery

In addition to Morfik's own web site www.morfik.com, being created using AppsBuilder, Morfik Labs showcases many of the other applications that have been written with AppsBuilder: including

• Morfik Chess: Allows users to play each other online or play against a chess engine. This is the first known instance of a chess engine that resides in the browser that is capable of more than 3-ply. This received notable attnetion from the blogosphere.[3],[4],[5]
• Desktop Gmail
• Google Maps Mashup

Competing Products

• Google GWT: At this time the closest competitor to Morfik appears to be Google with it's Google Web Toolkit.

  That is because GWT enables developers to build applications in Java, and then translate the code to XHTML and JavaScript. While there is no graphical development element at this time, the rest of the product is similar enough that there have been debates on whether Google has/had any acquisition/partnership intentions. GWT's manager, Bret Taylor offered a direct response to at least the partnership issue, by saying that GWT did not use any Morfik Technology.[6]

• Further, rumours have abounded regarding whether Morfik intends to file patent lawsuits against Google.[7],[8]).

Initially, various bloggers responded by questioning whether any had actually patent applications had been filed [9], but these criticism were laid to rest when at least one of Morfik's patent applications was made publicly available by the USPTO itself 18 months later.

• Adobe Flex: flash conceptions and misconceptions
• JavaScript frameworks: The primary ones being Dojo_Toolkit, JackBe, Proptype , Yahoo! UI Library , and other Ajax frameworks;

• Microsoft Atlas: For a brief time just prior to the Web 2.0 conference that Morfik and Microsoft were attending as major sponsoers, a rumour spread that Microsoft wanted to buy Morfik [10], however, this too, was also quickly laid to rest. [11]

In the Media

Print Media

Articles about Morfik in notable print media.

• SDTimes
• The Interbase & Firebird Developer Magazine, FYRACLE
• AustralianIT
• Dev: La rivista che ti insegna a programmare
• Toolbox

Digital

(These are in addition to alll the references cited in former sections.)

• ComputerWorld
  • AJAX made easier down under: WebOS AppsBuilder allows AJAX developers to program in familiar languages
• Supinfo-projects

• • Supinfo-Projects.com
• Slashdot
  • Morfik and rapid Development of Modern Web Apps
  • Morfik Defends IP rights against Google
  • Morfik Patents Ajax Compiler
• Richard McManus' Read/WriteWeb
  • Morfik Patents AJAX compiler - Playing Games With Google
  • Morfik's Ajax Platform Set to Challenge Google, Adobe, Microsoft
• Jason Kottke
  • Morfik seems to be workinig towards a WebOS
• Ajaxian
  • Ajax Java IDE support roundup
• pathfinder: Agile Ajax
  • AJAX Java IDE Support - Roundup
  • Morfik targets Google
  • Morfik announces Ajax IDE

Primary websites

• Morfik Technology Pty Ltd.
• Morfik Labs
• Morfik Wiki