Adobe Apollo becomes Adobe Air, Beta Released!

Adobe released the beta version of AIR, formerly code named Apollo. Adobe AIR™ is a cross-operating system application runtime that allows developers to use HTML/CSS, Ajax, Adobe Flash and Adobe Flex to extend rich Internet applications (RIAs) to the desktop.

New features in the Adobe AIR beta include an embedded local database, PDF support, enhanced capabilities for JavaScript developers, and deeper integration with Adobe Flex. The beta version of Adobe AIR and the Adobe AIR Software Developer’s Kit (SDK) can be downloaded for free from www.adobe.com/go/air .

Adobe AIR and Adobe Flex are cornerstones of Adobe’s comprehensive RIA platform, which enables developers and designers to create and deliver rich, dynamic, branded content and applications across all major operating systems. It is also possible to develop on Adobe Air with HTML and JavaScript or using Adobe Flash.

Key elements of Adobe AIR are open source, including the WebKit HTML engine, the ActionScript™ Virtual Machine (Tamarin project) and SQLite local database functionality. Additionally, Adobe recently announced its intention to release Adobe Flex as open source. By embracing open source technologies and offering pre-release versions of software, Adobe enables developers worldwide to participate in the growth of the industry’s most advanced platform for building cross-operating system RIAs.

The Labs Showcase Gallery holds a free cool color theme application; Kuler.

“Adobe AIR represents a new medium, as the best of the Web and the best of the desktop come together,” said Kevin Lynch, senior vice president and chief software architect at Adobe. “Adobe AIR expands the universe of possibilities for Web developers who can now deliver a new generation of applications that work across operating systems and both inside and outside the browser, bridging the gap between the Web and the personal computer.”