Beta Available: Adobe AIR 1.1 for Linux

By James Ward | Published: September 15, 2008

Having used Linux as my primary desktop for over ten years I can’t help but be a bit jealous of all the great software Windows and Mac users have available to them. But I can’t really blame the software creators for focusing on only those platforms. It’s just purely economics. The cost / benefit of making software work on Linux just isn’t there for most consumer software. What we have always dreamed of is “Write Once, Run Anywhere”. Why can’t software developers write applications for one OS and have it run on all of them?

Adobe Systems has been making great progress turning the dream of consistent, ubiquitous, and cross-platform software run times into reality. This is one of the many reasons I am excited about what Adobe is doing with their software platform technologies and I am happy to be a Technical Evangelist for them. The Flash Player releases have been sim-shipping on all three major platforms (Windows, Mac, and Linux) for almost a year now. But the recent addition to the platform stack, Adobe AIR, is still lagging a bit behind on Linux. Today Adobe posted a beta build of Adobe AIR 1.1 for Linux on the labs.adobe.com site. We all hope that soon even the AIR releases will sim-ship on all three major operating systems. But until then, go download this beta, give it a try and let Adobe know how it works for you.

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  • http://savvasmalamas.com/blog Savvas Malamas

    As a non Linux user I have to say that Linux is the way where Air should sine first!

    A lot of Air app opportunities in there and the best part is THAT WE DON’T HAVE TO USE Linux to make our apps work ON Linux.

    Amazing stuff, amazing Adobe!

  • http://www.pczone.be Bjorn Monnens

    “I can’t help but be a bit jealous of all the great software Windows and Mac users have available to them”

    That’s true, but the other way around is also true. When I’m on my linux desktop and I need some software, I open my console and just type “apt-cache search xml | grep editor” I get a list of applications I can test for free. For Mac and Windows I still have to use google or go to sourceforge,google code,… and search until I find something. (instead of opening your console you could use your package manager off course).

    And on the subject I want to thank Adobe for not forgetting the Linux people out there. Do you have a hand in supporting Linux or is this a real business strategy from Adobe?

  • http://www.jamesward.org James Ward

    Hi Bjorn,

    Good point. Package managers are one of the great things about Linux! One place to get software. One place to update software. That should make Mac and Windows users jealous!

    Adobe is actively supporting Linux for Flash Player and Adobe AIR. This is part of their strategy for having ubiquitous client runtimes in the browser and on the desktop.

    -James

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