Adobe AIR is a program which allows web developers to improve and leverage their existing development skills in Flash, HTML, Dojo, Java, etc. In short, AIR allows developers to build new and powerful internet applications with their existing coding skills. Adobe AIR also allows developers to create content that combines the strengths individual web languages in order to achieve a powerful and interactive user experience. Whether you want the ease of development, network connectivity, or ability to meet user access requirements, AIR can help you achieve your development needs with very little necessary learning.

AIR is constantly being upgraded and improved upon. It’s most recent development, Stage3D, offers users the ability to work with sophisticated hardware accelerated graphical rendering which is magnitudes faster than the prior AIR release. Stage3D is currently designed exclusively for desktop use, but Adobe plans to extend this functionality to mobile applications in the near future.

A major strength of AIR is its ability to cooperate with cross platform development, especially in regard to Android smartphones. And because AIR can be bundled with any given program that a developer creates, the user who downloads the developer’s work will not have to separately download and install AIR in order to run that program.

AIR also allows developers to create so-called hybrid applications which can integrate with a wide variety of internet services while also offering powerful online functionality that rivals the capacity of even the latest browsers. It should be clear that Adobe’s updates to AIR are not merely aimed at keeping it alive and relevant, but also drastically improving upon it as a runtime environment. Adobe AIR is available online free and only inhabits 15MB of disk space, making it one of the most powerful specialized tools in the Adobe collection. If the price doesn’t sell you on Adobe AIR, the nearly non-existent learning curve might do the trick.