The separation between desktop and web applications is becoming blurry every time a new application is released by a software vendor. The most prominent shift we saw that connected these two fields was with Google desktop. It provided with a suite of desktop applications that can be used standalone as well as on-line with the Internet.
Adobe System Corporation better known as just Adobe, made headlines with its new cross operating system runtime called Adobe AIR that provided web developers to create rich Internet applications using Adobe Flash, Flex, and HTML or Ajax, that can be deployed as desktop applications.
AIR is intended to be a versatile runtime environment, as it allows existing Flash, Actionscript or HTML and JavaScript code to be used to construct a more traditional desktop-like program. Adobe positions it as a browser-less runtime for rich Internet applications that can be deployed onto the desktop.
AIR applications can work both on-line and off-line. When an Internet connection is available, it can be customized to activate further functionalities to accessing the web or to upload any data. One example is eBay Desktop, which allows sellers to complete a listing offline and then upload it to eBay when they are connected to the Internet.
Adobe AIR 1.1 was released on June 16, 2008, and provides support for building internationalized applications. As of February 2009, there have been over 100 million installations of Adobe AIR around the globe.
Cool AIR applications to try out
To get started using any AIR application, simply download and install AIR from Adobe. Once you’ve done that, downloading and opening an AIR app on your desktop will trigger the standard AIR installer. Think of these files as traditional .msi or .exe setup applications, except that AIR handles the installation. In the meantime, check out these widgets developed using AIR to get sense as to how feature rich these applications can get.
AOL: This widget features, AOL Music shows the top 100 hottest music videos, related artist videos and special features. This widget is available for free and currently works on both MAC and PC computers.
Nickelodeon: Nickelodeon extends the reach of its brand and engages fans with interactive games and videos.
Mini Cooper: As like the car, the automotive manufacturer brings in style to your desktop with a cool MINI desktop clock which is also used for on-line marketing.
DID YOU KNOW?
- On Windows, it is not possible to create a new folder named “CON”.
- Type “Bush hid the facts” (without quotes) on notepad, save it and reopen.
- On Microsoft Word type =rand (200, 99) and then press ENTER.
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