Adobe Releases Adobe Integrated Runtime (AIR) Beta

Adobe released the public beta of the Adobe Integrated Runtime (AIR) early this morning. AIR is the release name for the project code-named Apollo.

AIR is a cross-platform runtime environment for SWF (Flash or Flex), HTML and Javascript, and PDF integration. The general idea behind AIR is to leverage Rich Internet Applications (RIAs) from the desktop and allow for better integration with the client environment. Some of the features included in the public beta are: - Transparent HTML application support - Windowing API improvements - Native File Pickers / Browsers - Server / Service Connectivity API - Native Menuing API - Drag and Drop - Clipboard Support - Embedded database - File type/extension registration

For more information, see Adobe Labs

Adobe has also announced a contest for AIR devlopers, with some excellent prizes: http://labs.adobe.com/showcase/special/airderby/

We will be discussing AIR at our meeting tomorrow evening (June 12). Hope to see you there.

BTW the latest hubbub is that AIR is RIA backwards -- pretty tricky, Adobe.