The anticipated coolth of Adobe AIR 2.0

[update: this post has been in the limbo for way too long, I wanted a way to embed the flash videos from Adobe.tv here, but it looks like there is none. I am publishing this post today, in hopes that the reader may find it interesting enough to actually try the links... BTW this here might relate to the silverlight 4 thingy as well! ]

I am yet to sift through all the Adobe MAX 2009 videos.

I find it really generous of Adobe to put all of these up. Even if most of it is marketing, they still share a few gems of information. Really worthwhile for guys like me, who end up being so busy there's little hope of attending an actual MAX event unless planned at least six months ahead of time.

I chanced upon the Adobe AIR 2.0 preview video:  http://tv.adobe.com/watch/max-2009-develop/whats-coming-in-adobe-air-2-/

(I wish there was a way to embed flash videos from Adobe.tv into Wordpress...)

 

To me the most important ones are the support for USB (mass storage devices) and native apps (so you can now open a word document from within AIR). I am still a bit skep about the performance, but, I am sure this is going to improve over the new version too...

Check these videos out. Kinda nice. Kinda exciting.

 

Cheers.

 

S.

[update:

1. there's a lot more videos on AIR2 in the complete video list, but I did like this one by Kevin Lynch as well: http://tv.adobe.com/watch/max-2009-develop/kevin-lynch-demos-adobe-air-2-features/

2. I prefer the adobe media player for working out all of it. nicer neater faster AIR based video playing...]

The Silverlight 4 Beta !!!

It's not been much time since Silverlight 3 and the Silverlight 4 beta is already out!

http://silverlight.net/getstarted/silverlight-4-beta/

One of the coolest aspects for me is the printing support. Today's RIA space dearly needs good printing support for its applications. As usual, microsoft has packed enough goodies in the bag, to make a non-programming drag'n'drop coder look like a champion developer! Comprehensive set of form controls and the works...

Another very important point with this version might be the networking support. Again, this might prove to be a game changer. I am thinking cloud, stock markets and social networks right now and I am hoping this could prove to be a cool RIA platform for getting stuff done!

For now this needs Visual Studio 2010 beta 2 (or the web dev express 2010 beta 2).

Check out the announcement: http://silverlight.net/getstarted/silverlight-4-beta/ which I am sure will be a lot more instructive than the two second analysis I have for now.

It's good news that VS2008 and 2010 can live together. I am off to trying the new stuff now!

Cheers

Shaurya.