Mozilla first introduced us to Prism about a year and a half ago, and at long last they are ready to release the first beta version of the web-to-desktop platform and take the wraps off Prim's shiny, new website.

The updated version includes several new features, like tray icon and notification support, and application-specific settings such as fonts and proxies. You can also choose a custom icon in the event that you'd prefer something a little nicer looking that the site's favicon. I was, however, only able to assign a custom icon successfully with the Prism app itself, not via the Firefox addon. Not a huge problem, since you can always select a new icon from your shortcut's properties dialog.

Prism is already in use in a number of web-to-desktop applications like Yahoo's Zimbra mail client. On our in-house network (at my day job), it's a great way to simplify web interfaces for my users. Removing browser chrome elements provides a more traditional application feel their GMail inbox and helps cut down on inappropriate use.

To roll your own Prism apps, you'll need either the Firefox extension or the Prism application (which is portable). You can download both from Mozilla's getting started page.