iConverged

Whoever said mashups must only be ‘web-based’ ? I’ve been tinkering with Adobe AIR for a while now, and I must say, I am really impressed.

What is Adobe AIR? Well, essentially, is a platform which allows us to build applications using ‘Web technologies’ like HTML, CSS, AJAX as well as Flash/Flex, but instead of building a 100% web-based application, we can build a ‘hybrid’ desktop application. Here is why I love what I see :

• I can access ‘web pages’ using the AIR APIs and display them on my ‘local desktop window’
• Once I get web page information on my local desktop window, I can ‘mash’ it with local functionalities that are valid only on my desktop (like drag and drag relevant parts into other applications)
• I can use pure HTML/AJAX to write my desktop application, and in addition, use AIR javascript APIs to enhance the application with the functionality AIR provides
• This is a ‘open mashup platform’ - I mean, I can build my AIR application, using the widgets of some other AJAX library, if I want! How cool is that ?
• It blurs the line between what is ‘out there’ (web) and what is ‘in here’ (desktop). Using AIR, I can mix components from the web and my desktop pretty easily. This allows me to develop apps that inherit similar functionality from web-based interfaces (we are not taking about reinventing - we are taking about letting the web service do its job, and ‘get the information into our desktop app’) & add more functionality that a pure web based app does not provide.
• The AIR runtime is pretty compact - I was impressed
• The AIR SDK is also very compact - again, very pleasantly surprised
• I can ask our ‘web developers’ in our company to start building desktop apps using AIR, I’d expect they will not spend more than a few days in getting fully ramped up, since a majority of AIR concepts are web-based. For the most part, you feel like you are writing a web-app.

I really feel AIR will eventually even be a super platform to build mobile applications that need online as well as offline content. Even though Adobe says it is only for Desktop apps (”for now”), I think it’s calling will really be for the mobile space. Using AIR, I could cache web content when live, and store data persistently, and represent it using a local interface very easily.

Overall, I’m really really impressed with AIR. Especially with the fact that I could get up and running in a few hours, building applications.

I am already thinking of really cool ways in which AIR could help add value to IMS SDPs, SIP applications and stuff like that… (what can I do, for each new technology I see, my mind swings towards how we can apply it to the telco world..)