Today we posted the first release of Adobe® AIR™ on www.adobe.com. It's just under a year ago that we released the first public alpha (then called Apollo), and now, after one alpha, three betas, and tons of your input, we have finally released AIR 1.0. We've had a lot of feedback throughout the Apollo alpha and the Adobe AIR beta versions, so we're excited to see what you'll do with Adobe AIR. Of course, this is just the first version, and we are already working on the next release, so please continue to let us know what we're doing right and, more importantly, what we're doing wrong.

What is Adobe AIR?

Adobe AIR is a cross-operating system runtime that allows developers to leverage their existing web development skills, code and tools (HTML, JavaScript, Ajax, Flash, Flex) to build and deploy rich Internet applications (RIAs) on the desktop. You can find more in-depth information on what Adobe AIR is—and why you might want it—on Adobe.com and throughout the AIR developer center.

What did we release for this launch?

In addition to Adobe AIR, we also released updated tools and resources that make it possible for you to build Adobe AIR applications:

• Adobe AIR: Release version of the runtime, which enables Adobe AIR applications to be installed and run.
• Adobe AIR SDK: Release version of the Adobe AIR SDK, which includes everything you need to start building Adobe AIR applications from the command line.
• Adobe Flex Builder 3: Adobe Flex Builder 3 includes support for building Flex applications on Adobe AIR from within Flex Builder.
• Adobe Flex 3: Flex 3 that includes support for building Flex applications that deploy on Adobe AIR.
• Adobe AIR sample applications: Applications built by Adobe employees (mostly by the Adobe AIR team) that demonstrate various features of Adobe AIR.
• Adobe AIR documentation: Complete getting-started and API documentation for Flex, Flash, and HTML/Ajax development for Adobe AIR.
• Adobe AIR Extension for Dreamweaver CS3: An extension for Adobe Dreamweaver CS3 that adds support for building HTML, CSS, and JavaScript-based Adobe AIR applications.
• Adobe AIR Extension for Flash CS3 Professional: An extension for Flash CS3 Professional that adds support for building experiences with Flash and deploying them on Adobe AIR.
• Adobe AIR Developer Center: Here you find articles, tutorials, and resources to help you get started with Adobe AIR development.
• Adobe AIR Marketplace: Here you can upload applications, or find applications that are being built in the community.

Also, the Adobe AIR Showcase highlights some of the great applications that are available on Adobe AIR. In the showcase you can read about how companies such as eBay, FedEx, and AOL are already delivering applications on Adobe AIR. In many cases, you can download the applications and check them out.

What's new in this release?

Compared to the Adobe AIR beta 3 release, there are not very many changes that should affect your applications. We've focused on stability, performance, and bug fixes for the final release

For more product details, check out the release notes.

Time to do something cool

I have worked at Adobe (and Macromedia before the merger) for nearly seven years. During that time, one thing has remained constant: developers and the community always take our technologies in directions that we never expect. I'm looking forward to seeing what you do with Adobe AIR.

If you are based in Europe, then make sure to check out the on AIR European Tour. This is a 12-city tour, where we put on free 1-day events where developers can learn how to build AIR applications with Flash, Flex, HTML, and JavaScript. You can find more information, including cities and dates, at onair.adobe.com.

Check out the following resources to get started with Adobe AIR:

• Adobe AIR Developer Center
• Getting started with Adobe AIR for Flex
• Getting started with Adobe AIR for Flash
• Getting started with Adobe AIR for HTML/Ajax

About the author