Adobe AIR Ships: Do You Care?
February 25th, 2008 (3:00pm) Mike Gunderloy 20 Comments
After an extensive beta period, Adobe’s AIR rich internet application application framework is shipping as version 1.0. You can download a copy here. Of course, Adobe isn’t the only player in the market trying to blur the lines between web and desktop applications – Microsoft, Google, and Mozilla all have their own initiatives in this space as well.
You’d think web workers would be all over this sort of development environment, but so far we’re not seeing a lot of RIA work (using AIR or the alternatives) in the sort of personal productivity and groupware applications that we cover most often. Adobe lists a variety of applications already shipping on their Marketplace page, but what’s your experience? Have you even installed AIR on your computers? If so, what are you using it for?
20 Comments Post your own comment
Walter Wimberly says: February 25th, 2008 3:17pm
I’ve not used it myself as I deal with mostly consumer directed websites, but I’ve seen where it can be used effectively. A perfect example was my wife and I were taking a survey this past weekend. The moderator has a web based app to enter the results. Unfortunately, just as he was beginning, the local network went down.
If he had been using AIR, or Google Gears with the built in database storage, it would not have mattered. Store the data for a few days and then move on.
Lance says: February 25th, 2008 4:11pm
nope
PXLated says: February 25th, 2008 4:31pm
Haven’t, probably won’t unless it really takes off. I try to stick to web standards, it’s not.
mjeaton says: February 25th, 2008 4:32pm
It’s installed but only so I can use twhirl (twitter client).
Marshall Kirkpatrick says: February 25th, 2008 4:52pm
Twitter clients, all the best ones are on AIR, are the only thing I’ve used AIR for so far – but I am super excited to have more functionality available this way. I’d really like to have a little AIR news ticker sitting above all my other apps, for example. I use GMail webclips for subliminal RSS reading all the time and would like a more full-bodied AIR experience of same. There have been a number of apps I’ve wished were in AIR lately, or startups I’ve seen working on them. MindMeister’s Gears implementation is fantastic for travel, though there are some syncing issues.
I think there’s lots of potential here.
rick gregory says: February 25th, 2008 5:13pm
i installed it for twhirl… nice, but that’s the thing – unless there’s something that drives the adoption of AIR… meh, who cares? I’m going to try the Google Analytics app too, but my first question will be “Why is this better than the Analytics pages in Firefox?”
Stuart says: February 25th, 2008 6:33pm
no.
ajaxus says: February 25th, 2008 11:02pm
Of course we care, all the web world is waiting on RIA to move the layers. I even blogged about it!
Lasse Rintakumpu says: February 25th, 2008 11:15pm
This is a hard one. Let me think for a second … No. I don’t.
Servaas says: February 26th, 2008 1:02am
I did install it, and was a bit disappointed when I found out that most available apps are for the older version!
Gareth says: February 26th, 2008 1:05am
Adobe is the most likely to succeed here. There is a massive installed user base of Flash developers. For those who are experienced in Ajax and Flash it is especially exciting. The types of applications that have been produced already have never been so easy to produce before.
Flash / Air is here to stay.
Leaving The Day Job says: February 26th, 2008 2:41am
Installed it this morning. About 75% of the apps I tried failed to run. Those that did run were nothing special, nothing that couldn’t have been done with Flash in a browser window.
Without a killer app and the runtime being widely pre-installed this is going to struggle to take off.
David Tucker says: February 26th, 2008 5:49am
The runtime will begin being widely distributed now that 1.0 is out. Remember that Adobe has been able to have the Flash player reach over 98% penetration on all computers. There are also solid and amazing applications already out there. The NASDAQ is amazing and illustrates how cool the apps can be. Also, fully expect to see Buzzword as an AIR app soon.
J.J. Merrick says: February 26th, 2008 6:40am
I care, but I am a developer so it means more to me. I think that it will take off as people start to embrace technology and things start to come about with it. I like the ability to hand a package off to a client and say here you go, install it on the desktop. No need for browsers or worrying about if it is compatible. I see it going to the mobile phone soon which will be a huge deal. Flex 3 is really the bread and butter and allows you to create great looking applications with hardly any effort. True RAD.
FiZ says: February 26th, 2008 7:20am
I’ve got it installed, but so far, almost every application that I’ve found for AIR is either A) incompatible with the current version of AIR, B) Nothing that isn’t better accomplished with a website in Prizm, C) buggy and broken despite being compatible with the newest version, or D) worthless due to its own lack of merit.
I think it’s going to be a LONG time before any of these technologies becomes ubiquitous though. Sure, us nerds and geeks will go nuts over it as it becomes more useful, but the majority of people on the internet won’t even know what silverlight/air/prizm/etc. are for the next 2 years, at least.
David Tucker says: February 26th, 2008 8:15am
@FiZ – I am afraid you might be a bit short sighted on this one. With companies like Ebay, Nasdaq, AOL, and MTV all launching (or have launched) AIR applications – it will become commonplace for the average user quite quickly – they won’t even have to know that it is AIR. Last I checked, Ebay isn’t jumping for Prism.
jeremy says: February 26th, 2008 10:23am
hmmm never heard of this AIR thingy, so I guess… nope.
Brendan says: February 26th, 2008 11:34am
never heard of it either, not a big fan of Adobe or Flash, tried AIR didn’t like it, why?
What is exactly the difference (USP’s?) for me as a user with other software?
Hooray, is there now a software application for every site I visit? And then do I need to install software for every place I visit? Sounds like fun!
Gary says: February 26th, 2008 9:57pm
If you’re a developer don’t focus on AIR. Look at Flex Builder and think about how you can now develop an app with all the complexity, interactivity, speed and media power of a desktop app and then consider that whether you are going to deploy to a web page or the desktop or both is almost no longer an issue ! Flex is the big story, and AIR is just a new deployment target of Flex.
The “do you care” question is silly.
Average users don’t need to care. They’ll get excited when their favourite site (eg. eBay) offers a desktop version though, and eBay will get the glory, not AIR.
Mitchell says: March 2nd, 2008 6:31pm
All I use is Twirl and Pownce