It's not the first thing a casual Mac user would ask about, but it might become incredibly important pretty soon.

According to Macworld UK, Apple is quietly deploying SproutCore, a web technology that could help the company stand against Adobe's Flash and Microsoft's Silverlight endeavors.

Introduced last week at a closed session to an audience of about 600 of the Worldwide Developers Conference in San Francisco, SproutCore functions as a JavaScript framework designed to make web applications which function like full desktop applications. The framework was developed by programmer Charles Jolly who was soon hired to Apple's .Mac (now MobileMe) team.

Where this becomes useful:
-Developers don't need to remain locked into a single standard such as Flash given that SproutCore is based on open JavaScript standards. This allows the program to be widely compatible with browsers and operating systems.

-SproutCore offers development speed improvements on both the user and server sides to help create rich applications.

-Applications created with this framework can run inside the browser rather than requiring a plug-in. "A SproutCore application is a JavaScript application that runs entirely in the web browser. It can often run on its own, without even needing support for a web server except when it makes sense for the application. This frees the server developer to focus on the things the server can do very well such as saving, restoring and aggregating data and performing expensive operations. Meanwhile the 'thick' client running in the web browser can handle the task of presenting the user with a friendly interface that is fast and intuitive," the SproutCore website explains.

Not stuff you'd ask for in the first place, but relevant if you're wondering what Apple's has coming down the pipe.

If you've heard anything on your end or had the opportunity to see SproutCore in action, let us know over in the comments or forums.