Linux gains fresh "AIR"

Adobe announced the availability of its first Linux version of Adobe AIR, which is used to develop rich Internet applications (RIAs) outside the browser. A component of the Adobe Flash Platform for media playback, Adobe AIR 1.5 targets cross-platform development on Windows, Mac, and now Linux platforms, says Adobe.

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Adobe announced it would release a Linux version of AIR in November, when it also released a 64-bit alpha Linux version of its Flash Player 10. Companies including DirecTV, Fox News, and NASDAQ use Adobe AIR, says Adobe.

The key enhancement to AIR 1.5 is the implementation of the open source WebKit HTML engine. In addition, AIR 1.5 is said to offer the "SquirrelFish" WebKit JavaScript interpreter for claimed acceleration of application performance.

AIR 1.5 borrows functionality from Adobe Flash Player 10, including support for custom filters and effects, native 3D transformation and animation, and extensible rich text layout, says Adobe. The new version also adds an encrypted database that is said to meet enterprise security compliance requirements.

Free SDKs for AJAX, Flex, and Flash

Adobe is offering free, Linux-compatible software development kits (SDKs) for Adobe AIR 1.5, customized for AJAX, Flex, and Flash developers. Future releases of AIR will support mobile Linux platforms, as well, says the company, including netbooks and mobile Internet device (MIDs) running Moblin Linux.

Stated David Wadhwani, GM and VP, Platform Business Unit, at Adobe, "Using Adobe AIR, millions of Web developers can now be Linux developers, and with little effort and no additional costs, companies can now target emerging markets and a broad set of new devices where Linux is growing in popularity."

Stated Mark Shuttleworth, founder of the Ubuntu project, "Outside of the browser, developers have traditionally had to choose one or maybe two operating systems when building an application. With Adobe AIR 1.5, companies and developers can easily target all three major operating systems with a single code base."

Availability

Adobe AIR 1.5 for Linux is available now as a free download, here. The Linux version of Adobe AIR 1.5 includes support for Fedora 8, Ubuntu 7.10, and openSUSE 10.3, says Adobe. The free, Linux-ready SDKs for Adobe AIR 1.5 should be available here.

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BY Eric Brown

Source：DesktopLinux.com