Adobe's new cross-operating system runtime opens up much more possibilities to both developers and everyday computer users. It allows developers to create new web applications using HTML, XML, Javascript and Flex. What's more they aren't limited to using Adobe's library, but can create, share and use their own to create specific web applications.

For users, it gives access to new and exciting rich internet applications (RIA) which can be run straight from their desktop. These use very little memory, are usually quick to launch and execute and have very smooth animations. A quick visit to the Adobe Showcase Gallery and you get an idea of the sort of applications that are being developed for AIR: a Google Analytics Reporting Suite, a Twitter desktop client, a movie discovery tool and much, much more. The possibilities are endless and really depend on the creativity of developers.

While I've had some errors with AIR, especially when installing new apps, I'm overall very impressed with it. Quietly but surely, we're seeing more and more exciting web applications being developed. Install AIR to be part of the web applications revolution!