Ajax Girl

It is appropriate that the answer to the toughest riddle since the Davinci Code has been solved on Friday the 13th.

John Eckman has written about Rich Internet Applications and Greek Mythology and uncovers the reasons why Adobe named their project Apollo, and Microsoft named theirs Atlas.

It even gets to the conclusion that Dionysus is next. Well, you got me. My sheparding of ajaxian.com is an act to bring back the great days of Dionysus, or Dion for short.

Ajax, in Greek mythology, was not a god, but a human hero and King. Interestingly, in the Illiad, he is the only major warrior who receives no assistance from the gods, suggesting “the virtues of hard work and perseverance.”

Microsoft called their Ajax platform (now more prosaicly known as ASP.NET AJAX) Atlas - a Titan and brother to Prometheus who held heaven and earth on his shoulders as a punishment from Zeus for leading the Titans in a revolt against the gods.

So why does Adobe choose Apollo? Well, the god Apollo unites art and reason, and is the god of beauty, the sun, music, light, truth - the ideal of beauty. Perhaps Apollo plays in both senses here - rather than holding up the earth (like Atlas) Adobe’s Apollo is taking us to the moon and back, and providing beauty. Ajax was merely human, Apollo divine. Atlas tried to usurp the gods and was punished; Apollo brought order, music, and poetry.

Perhaps it’s time for an open source web/desktop framework named after Dionysus? (See Apollonian and Dionysian)

Source: Ajaxian
Original Article: http://ajaxian.com/archives/the-true-meaning-behind-apollo-atlas-ajax-and-dionysius