popfly is a new…uh…api(?) microsoft put together that is basically a drag and drop widget mash-up tool. the idea behind it seems like yahoo pipes to some extent, although i never spent any time with pipes so i can’t give a real comparison – someone will i’m sure. it requires silverlight 1.0, but doesn’t yet support 1.1. it’s all client-side, which is pretty cool and allows you to share your creations with your friends or the world. the collaboration aspect is intriguing as this could lead to some very powerful and useful interfaces. i’d be interested to see the scaling capabilities of this as that will be a really big factor in popfly’s success.
this looks like it will be very cool for everyone who enjoys getting their data in one place, their own way. i really like the idea that they expose the code and allow you to write your own javascript – and it looked like c# at first glance – to do a little more in depth mashing if you please. it’s in extremely limited alpha, apparently, so we’ll see if my spot in the queue makes it within the initial group of 2000 invites they claim to be giving out.
if ms does this right, it could be very big – so here’s to hoping that they do it well and respond to the feedback of the testing groups. they seem to be giving the collective a bit more input into their products these days and this would be a great place to allow the community at large to get their hands in the microsoft sandbox.
via [scobleizer]
ThisIsSteve 