Adobe launched their latest technology called Adobe AIR at the beginning of 2008. It’s an exciting technology that lets web developers to use their skills to build applications for virtually any desktop environment.

What Exactly Is Adobe Air?

AIR stands for, the Adobe Integrated Runtime (AIR) and is one of the latest interesting development from Adobe.

AIR runs on Windows, Mac OS X and a very usable Beta version for Linux. A version for mobile devices is on the roadmap and should be announced in the second half of 2008. It installs the first time you download and run an AIR application, much in the same way that Flash is installed on a computer if the user visits a web site using Flash and they don’t already have it installed.

Air applications run on the desktop and are half way between web based applications (which run in a browser) and full blown desktop applications such as Word or Photoshop.

Developers can create AIR applications using the HTML, CSS, Javascript, Flash, Flex (A flash framework) and PDF knowledge they already have and AIR acts as a wrapper that allows them to run on the desktop and go beyond the limitations they would normally have if they were running in a web browser.

Is It A Web or a Desktop Application?

Neither, it’s a kind of hybrid.

AIR applications differ from current web applications because AIR applications do not run in your web browser and therefore are able to use desktop features such as full drag and drop between applications, save files to the local hard drive or network and store data locally in a database.

When compared to traditional desktop applications, AIR applications are simple to deploy, easy and cost-effective to build, have better web integration and will run on all three of the major operating systems.

AIR finds the best of both worlds. It can interact with online resources if connected or use local storage (via the included SQLite database) and synchronise data when an online source when next connected.

AIR is also smart enought to know when it is and isn’t connected so you can create programmes that work with online data and use the local database as a fallback if the connection to the internet is dropped.

So Is AIR a Web Browser?

No. AIR uses HTML and Flash it needs browser technology to work. AIR uses the WebKit rendering engine (used in Safari) to display the HTML and/or Flash and process the JavaScript.

So your appplication will render predictably using the most advanced rendering engine available at the moment, but look like a traditional desktop programme. If you open an AIR application, you’ll be able to work with that application, but you won’t be able to then use the application as a regular browser to visit other web sites.

Why Does Adobe Air Matter?

The reason that AIR is significant is not so much for what can be created, but for how those applications are created and who can create them.

There’s not really that much new in AIR from a technology perspective. Its strength is that web developers can use existing web technologies, (X)HTML, CSS, Javascript, Flash and PDF to create applications that run on the desktop. AIR can work in tandem with your existing web sites and web applications and can be built by web developers using the skills they already have. In the cases where AIR will be working in tandem with an existing web site you have much of the code that you need developed already.

AIR also matters because it gives companies that only have a web presence the ability to have a presence on the user desktop as well. AIR interrupts the process of opening a browser and searching for a service. Companies that provide successful AIR applications stand to benefit from higher customer retention.

Who Is Using Air?

AIR acceptance has been rapid and already, some high profile companies such as eBay and PayPal are developing AIR applications and whole range of smaller companies are investing resources in AIR applications.