Adobe Air surpasses 100 Million installations • Hacker News Board

Re: Adobe Air surpasses 100 Million installations

#11

Post by codeview » Thu, Jan 29, 2009, 1:31 PM UTC

pclark wrote: post #6

ThomPete wrote: post #5

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

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 na…

Google gears , Mozilla Prism are all a different genre. If you are planning to build an "occasionally connected app" that lives within the browser, Gears is a good choice. AIR is for building desktop apps.

If you are a web developer and knows Javascript (and/or Flash), you can build great apps that works nicely on desktop with Adobe AIR. AIR doesn't force developers to build custom chrome for apps. By default AIR renders the app in OS's native chrome. But if a developer chooses to, he can go for custom chrome .Thats it.

AIR is a runtime (more like Java ) for running AIR apps. You needn't "open an Adobe Air" at any point. Just install the apps you really want and use it.

Re: Adobe Air surpasses 100 Million installations

#12

Post by axod » Thu, Jan 29, 2009, 2:03 PM UTC

dantheman wrote: post #9

pclark wrote: post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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 na…

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.

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

Re: Adobe Air surpasses 100 Million installations

#13

Post by ThomPete » Thu, Jan 29, 2009, 2:28 PM UTC

axod wrote: post #12

dantheman wrote: post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

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

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.

Re: Adobe Air surpasses 100 Million installations

#14

Post by pclark » Thu, Jan 29, 2009, 3:45 PM UTC

ThomPete wrote: post #13

axod wrote: post #12

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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

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.

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

Not at all.

Re: Adobe Air surpasses 100 Million installations

#15

Post by ThomPete » Thu, Jan 29, 2009, 3:58 PM UTC

pclark wrote: post #14

ThomPete wrote: post #13

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

and we've seen what adobe things "smooth" is from when Fireworks/Photoshop "smoothens" text. Not at all.

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.

Re: Adobe Air surpasses 100 Million installations

#16

Post by statictype » Thu, Jan 29, 2009, 4:58 PM UTC

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.

Re: Adobe Air surpasses 100 Million installations

#17

Post by pj » Thu, Jan 29, 2009, 5:29 PM UTC

ThomPete wrote: post #15

pclark wrote: post #14

Earlier quoted context omitted.

and we've seen what adobe things "smooth" is from when Fireworks/Photoshop "smoothens" text. Not at all.

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.

The holistic view is exactly why Adobe Air is bad.

It's not standard and it limits accessibility.

Re: Adobe Air surpasses 100 Million installations

#18

Post by allenbrunson » Thu, Jan 29, 2009, 5:34 PM UTC

ThomPete wrote: post #15

pclark wrote: post #14

Earlier quoted context omitted.

and we've seen what adobe things "smooth" is from when Fireworks/Photoshop "smoothens" text. Not at all.

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.

i can't speak for pclark, but i can tell you why i'm against flash/air/etc: the web should be based on free and open standards. the fact that no single company controls the internet is what makes it great.

does anybody remember what things were like before the internet was widely available to everybody? personally, i used compuserve. they were able to charge hideous rates per minute, because they were a de facto monopoly.

allowing a company like adobe to control such a huge swath of the internet is a step backwards towards the compuserve days.

Re: Adobe Air surpasses 100 Million installations

#19

Post by halo » Thu, Jan 29, 2009, 6:41 PM UTC

dantheman wrote: post #9

pclark wrote: post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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 na…

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.

And we all know that Java on the desktop has been such a great success..

Re: Adobe Air surpasses 100 Million installations

#20

Post by satyajit » Thu, Jan 29, 2009, 10:22 PM UTC

dantheman wrote: post #7

pclark wrote: post #4

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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

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

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...