The worlds of online and offline applications came closer to converging Monday as Adobe Systems released its AIR 1.0 and Flex 3 platforms. The platforms include tools, frameworks, services, servers and runtimes, and enable developers to create rich Net applications (RIA) that combine the Web’s real-time updates with the desktop’s speed and access to local files. The applications can be run in the Flash player as well as in the Adobe Media Player, now in beta release, which the company said will be “a fusion of TV and the Net.”

‘Big Thing’ Is AIR

“AIR is the big thing” in that release, said Jeffrey Hammond, an analyst with industry firm Forrester, although he noted that there are no obvious improvements by AIR’s beta releases. He said the platform gives developers a sandbox in which existing skills in HTML, Ajax, Flex and Flash can be utilized to “blend the previously separate development models — development for the desktop and

development for the Web.”

Flex 3 is a free, open-source framework. AIR and the AIR SDK are additionally free, and large parts of AIR, including the WebKit HTML engine, Tamarin ActionScript Virtual Machine, and SQLite local database functionality, are plus open source.

The blending of desktop and Web applications could impact many e-commerce and other business experiences on the Web. AIR’s momentum, said Adobe CTO Kevin Lynch, shows the “real need for businesses to engage with customers in more effective ways.”

AIR-Deployed Applications

Adobe said the momentum includes AIR-deployed applications from such companies as AOL, eBay, NASDAQ, The New York Times, Nickelodeon/MTV Network, Sharp and others.

NASDAQ has an RIA for the desktop that allows financial pros to replay market activity at any point in moment. With it, brokers can remotely show customers precisely what was taking place when an order was placed. Adobe said AIR…

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