Palm this week announced the release of its web-based development tool, called Project Ares, for its webOS. Their new IDE is completely browser-based, and was released with the goal of providing developers the ability to create applications from start to finish completely within their browser.
The new IDE includes many features that developers have requested. Developers are able to log in and create a new project or upload an existing one, and can use new features including a drag-and-drop interface builder, visual JavaScript debugger and single-click deployment using a Palm device or development emulator.
The Ares IDE has been tested on various browsers, and is known to support Firefox 3.5 for Windows, Firefox 3.5 for Linux and Firefox 3.5 for OSX among others. It does not currently support Microsoft Internet Explorer or Firefox 3.5.
Developers have already commented that the lack of a native compiler and SDK indicate a lack of response to the development community, and all bets are out as to whether this new development environment will appeal to developers at large and if it will be enough to gain adoption by the usually loyal Palm developer community.
