

Adobe Air surpasses 100 Million installations - ThomPete
http://www.techcrunch.com/2009/01/29/adobe-air-is-flying-100-million-installations-accounted-for/

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pclark
I still hate Air. Here's why:

Of all the companies, do we really want Adobe to be the gate keeper of yet
another format? Isn't PDF and Flash enough?

Air encourages bad User Interfaces. One UI across multiple platforms leads to
horrible, non-standard interfaces on _all_ platforms.

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satyajit
Yet another format? They are just churning out yet another app on the same
flash format, that's been installed on almost over 98% of desktops all over
the world! So what's wrong? And if you have used some specific apps like eBay
Desktop on Air, it rocks, esp if you are a power eBay user. Air is a good
thing, I just hope that they learn from their PDF/Acrobat mistakes and do not
let Air/Flash go down that path!

~~~
pclark
erm, Air apps require Adobe Air -- not Adobe Flash.

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dantheman
erm, Air apps are basically flash apps with a slightly more powerful api and
framework to run them offline.

~~~
satyajit
Yea, I think Air definitely brings a value addition on an already existing web
platform. To use the APIs, and create an app that can work with your site in
an online/offline mode, and still present a compelling interface, there isn't
a whole lot of choice I see...

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ThomPete
It's not a web app it's a desktop app.

You are creating a pseudo problem. You mother wouldn't even know it was an air
app most probably.

I don't know what makes you think that those two paradigmes shouldn't merge.
Nothing at all dictates that that shouldn't happen.

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matthias
Firefox is at 800 million, but I'd say at least 40 of those were me!

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statictype
I've never really used any app that runs on Air. What are the killer apps for
this platform? There must be something big if they've got 100 million
installations.

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ThomPete
pclark, well you will have a hard time finding a framework that is more fitted
for online/offline services, that actually allows you to create a proper UX
and design experience and that is so easy to get going with. No other
crossbrowser frameworks work as well as this IMHO

~~~
pclark
for a bloody good reason -- it shouldn't be done.

The solution? Web Apps + Google Gears. Then it'll run on any OS, even iPhones
-- and can be offline. You have the added ability of creating a "nice" UI that
users will expect - if my mother was to open an Adobe Air, she'd be confused
as hell. Its neither a web app, nor a native app.

Don't make web apps look like desktop apps

Always make desktop apps look like their native OS. If you can't do this, just
make a freaking web app.

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dantheman
I'm going to have to disagree, an AIR application is no less a native
application than a java program. There is no need for a network connection for
it to run.

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axod
So what's the point of AIR? Why do we need it.

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ThomPete
For many different reasons a few of them being, that it's easy and yet
powerful and let you create powerful professional apps with any degree of
usability and UX you require.

It allows for you to blur the line between of and online in a much more smooth
way.

~~~
pclark
and we've seen what adobe things "smooth" is from when Fireworks/Photoshop
"smoothens" text.

Not at all.

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ThomPete
don't know what they did to you but apparently you seem pissed at them for
some reason. It's just software mate.

You are welcome to find alternatives and no google has nothing even close to
this. No one really has when you look at it from a holistic point of view,
which I would normally recommend.

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pj
The holistic view is exactly why Adobe Air is bad.

It's not standard and it limits accessibility.

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ThomPete
So does Firefox plugins, I don't see anyone leeching out against that. It's a
weird puritan view.

Flash is as standard as you can get and air is just an extension off that
allowing you to do more stuff off line.

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pj
Flash is not as standard as you can get.

The web standards are HTML, CSS, and JavaScript. Flash is neither of those.
The specification is not controlled by a governing body. It is controlled by
_one_ company.

Talking about Firefox plugins is straw man, has nothing to do with this
conversation and I don't know any websites that require a Firefox plugin to
work correctly. If they exist, I don't use them.

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ThomPete
saying that flash is not a de facto standard is surely missing the big picture
on this. Sorry but what would you call the standard for showing video if not
flash? What would you call the standard for doing animation or another other
sort of rich manipulation.

Just because it's not open does not mean that it's not a standard.

