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Adobe Introduces Adobe AIR, Adobe Flex 3 Software
IT News Online Staff
2008-02-25

Adobe Systems Inc. has announced the availability of Adobe AIR and Adobe Flex 3 software, enhancing its technology platform for rich Internet applications (RIAs). Developers and designers use Adobe RIA technologies to rapidly create and deploy rich, branded content and applications.

The company said the release of Adobe AIR signals the next wave of Adobe RIA innovation by bridging the real-time, dynamic capabilities of the Web with the computing power and data capabilities of the desktop. Businesses that leverage the Web as a platform are now using the latest Adobe RIA technologies to build and deploy more engaging applications with the widest reach across browsers, desktops and operating systems.

"For 25 years, Adobe has delivered technology innovation for our customers, beginning with desktop publishing and extending to multimedia and the Web," said Kevin Lynch, chief technology officer at Adobe. "Now, we continue to advance the future of digital experiences by enabling our customers to create highly interactive, expressive applications. This is an exciting time for Adobe, for innovation in software and for designers and developers who are driving the Web forward."

Adobe said leading companies across industries such as entertainment, finance, media, retail and social networking are embracing Adobe RIA technologies. Deutsche Bank, The Nasdaq Stock Market Inc. and The New York Times Company, among others, use the Adobe technology platform for RIAs to help ensure customer interactions are engaging and effective.

"Adobe has been focused on improving the Web experience and delivering the underlying technologies to produce more interactive and expressive Web sites and applications, and the Adobe technology platform for RIAs hits right at a key need companies have today," said Al Hilwa, Program Director at IDC. "The ROI of RIAs is real. A more engaging product visualization experience in eCommerce applications for example, helps customers understand what they are buying, which leads to less online abandonment and increased average order size through cross-sell and up-sell visualization."

Adobe is also delivering new applications built with Adobe Flex and deployed on Adobe AIR, such as Adobe Media Player, now in beta release, which is a fusion of TV and the Internet that allows users to watch their favorite shows anytime and anywhere, as well as Buzzword, an elegant online word processor that has built-in collaboration capabilities.

Adobe AIR, Adobe Flex and Adobe Flash Player software are the foundation of the Adobe technology platform for RIAs. Adobe RIA technologies include tools, frameworks, servers, services and runtimes that work together seamlessly, enabling the creation of engaging experiences with the greatest reach. There are a variety of learning resources at the Adobe Developer Connection to help developers immediately start building RIAs for the browser and the desktop.

Adobe AIR enables developers to create RIAs on the desktop using the skills and Web technologies, such as HTML, Ajax, PDF, Adobe Flash and Adobe Flex, they already employ. Applications deployed on Adobe AIR have the advantages of browser-based RIAs, such as speed of development, ease of use and access from almost anywhere. Yet they also have the benefits of desktop applications, such as the ability to read/write local files, work with other applications on a user's computer and maintain local data storage on the desktop.

Flex is a free, open source framework for building highly interactive, expressive RIAs. Adobe Flex Builder 3, an Eclipse-based development tool, accelerates Flex application development and includes new capabilities for deploying RIAs on Adobe AIR. Adobe Flex Builder 3 integrates with Adobe Creative Suite 3 software making it easy for designers and developers to work together more efficiently. New testing tools, including memory and performance profilers and integrated support for automated functional testing, speed up development and lead to higher performing RIAs.

Adobe Flash Player delivers a new level of creative options, highly engaging user experiences, stunning audio/video playback, and virtually universal reach.

Major portions of Adobe AIR, such as the WebKit HTML engine, Tamarin ActionScript Virtual Machine, and SQLite local database functionality, are open source. Adobe said it is committed to contributing to the open source community on multiple fronts, including the release of the free open source Flex framework and open source BlazeDS for high-speed data connectivity, as well as active membership in the SQLite Consortium.

Adobe AIR and the Adobe AIR SDK are available immediately as free downloads in English and offered for both Windows and Macintosh operating systems. Upcoming versions are expected to be available for Linux and other languages.

The Adobe Flex 3 product line is available now in English and Japanese, and offered for both Windows and Macintosh operating systems. The open source Flex 3 SDK is available free of charge and a beta version of Adobe Flex Builder 3 for Linux is freely available on Adobe Labs. Adobe Flex Builder 3 is available as a standalone product or Eclipse plug-in, with the Standard edition priced at $249 and the Professional edition at $699.