Adobe Releases AIR

AIR, Adobe Integrated Runtime is now available. It’s a free and open source technology that can be used to build applications. Some of the first applications come out today.

Ebay is using AIR for eBay Desktop, which lets users use the auction site with out being connected to the Internet. The desktop platform is updated when the user connects to the Internet.

AIR will let the following be run on desktops without an Internet connection (updated automatically when users connect to Internet):

AOL Top 100 Music Videos
AOL Xdrive (5 GB of storage to share media)
Adobe Buzzword (an online word processing program)

Many companies will be hopping on the AIR bandwagon from FedEX to Nickelodeon.

Other companies have their open-source systems to move data from the PC to the Internet and back again.

They are:
Mozilla, which has developed Prism.
Sun Microsystems, JavaFX
Google, Gears
Microsoft, Silverlight