David Deraedt

This is a confession from a Flex developer. I'm almost afraid to say this, but I think that, sometime in the near future, I may just stop doing browser-based Flex apps, and focus on AIR. Not that I really have to choose of course. But today, I realize that, if I had a choice, I'd code AIR apps all day long.

The main reason is that I think developing an application for AIR feels much more natural than trying to put it in a box that just doesn't fit (the browser, that is).

This somehow sounds weird to me since I was quite skeptical at first, especially because I was a Macromedia Central (RIP) early adopter, and felt disappointed by its model.

Now, I wonder, how did this happen?

I began to be truly committed to the AIR runtime when I translated Mike Chambers' (and others) Pocket Guides about Apollo (for O'Reilly France, RIP too). The introduction (Chapter 1) explaining the why of Adobe AIR, was a bit confusing to me at first. Today, I realize how accurate it was (and still is).

From a developer standpoint, I think AIR apps are much more fun to build. I really feel more empowered than I do when working for the web, always fighting against the browser and its security model. Of course, that's the opinion of a guy coming from the web, I understand developers coming from the desktop world may not feel this way.

But AIR apps are (relatively) easy to develop for, and, just like web apps, you don't have to care about OS of your user. Also, the deployment model is very good : install in some seconds from a web page, and then auto-update.

More importantly, from a user standpoint, compared to an app in the browser, the experience is of course far better. As a user I want to be able to launch an app from an associated file type, or just from from my Dock. I want to be able to use native dragndrop. I want to use my apps even though I'm not connected to the Interweb. I want a desktop application.

I personally use very few Flex apps. As for AIR apps, I have about 30 installed on my system, and I use at least 5 of them on a daily basis. Reading this blog post from effective UI, I see I'm not alone. No killer app yet ? Who cares about killer apps !? I just want to use decent apps, that are lightweight, easy to install, fast to launch, easy to use, and that just do the frickin job I want them to do. That's a killer app to me !

What about having your data always available from the web? Well, using an AIR app doesn't mean the related data are stuck on your local drive. You can of course load it from the web. But I tend to think the best match for AIR apps are Dropbox-like services : having your data on your drive, but have them magically backed-up and synchronized over all your machines (and still accessible from the browser).

Now, I have to admit the fact that the market for AIR today is not nearly as big as it is for Flex. But I bet this will change soon. I have reasons to believe that it will grow exponentially in the coming months. The penetration is not really an issue since the installation of the runtime from the install badges is quite seamless.

Let's not forget that AIR is just at its 1.5 iteration (well, almost). I'm really confident in the fact that the AIR team (and evangelists) are doing everything they can to make AIR an even better platform. Of course, they'll have to create the possibility to launch other apps from an AIR app somehow, and have deeper access to the system. Oh and we'll have to run this on our devices too (I'm looking at you IPhone, Android phones).

Now, every love story has its ups and downs, and I guess know that I'll probably cry at the end. But today, I just wanted to share the luv.

Note to self: Stop putting random puppies pics to preserve credibility (or what's left of it)