Adobe released an update to its Integrate Runtime (AIR) environment. Based on WebKit and the Flash VM, AIR allows rich-client developers to deploy applications to users' desktops. Applications that can be delivered in that manner include not only Flex- and Flash-based software, but also Web applications written using JavaScript and HTML.

AIR provides extensions to JavaScript, HTML, as well as Flex, that allow an application written with any of these technologies to take advantage of the local desktop's capabilities, such as accessing the file system, installing desktop icons, and taking advantage of rich display capabilities of the user's host.

The latest AIR release adds support for internationalized rich-client applications. In addition, the AIR runtime's user interface components are now available in many different languages. Support for keyboard input for double-byte languages is also part of this release.

Additional enhancements in AIR 1.1 include:

• Support for certificate migration from a self-signed application to one that chains to a certificate of authority.
• Support for Microsoft Windows XP Tablet PC Edition and support for 64-bit editions of Windows Vista
• Addition of File.spaceAvailable API to obtain the amount of disk space available on a disk
• Addition of NativeWindow.supportsTransparency property to determine whether a window can be drawn as transparent by the current operating system

What do you think of Adobe's goal of allowing desktop integration for rich-client Web applications?