On February 25, 2008, Adobe Systems launched version 1.0 of the Adobe Integrated Runtime, or "AIR," which allows software programmers to use web-development tools to create desktop software applications that run on all the major operating systems: Windows, Mac, and -- coming soon -- Linux.
For Adobe, AIR is a big bet. It is Adobe's "fourth platform," positioning it as the next link in the chain that includes PostScript, Acrobat's PDF (Portable Document Format), and Flash. The first three created disruptive paradigm shifts in their respective fields -- typesetting and document printing, electronic document interchange and web interactivity -- and all have generated significant revenues for Adobe.
On March 5, 2008, Microsoft, the software giant, released a beta (test) version of the next generation of its Silverlight technology. The first version of Silverlight was aimed at combating Adobe's success in establishing Flash as a popular method of delivering video over the web. The most recent release of Silverlight, version 2, is targeted at Flash's ability to create what Adobe terms "rich Internet applications" -- web-based software programs that provide many of the features associated with traditional desktop software.
While Microsoft's Silverlight competes with Adobe's Flash, Microsoft doesn't have a technology that directly compares to Adobe's AIR.
Thus, the contest between Microsoft and Adobe over the next generation of software development tools is, to some extent, based on differing views of the future of computing. For Microsoft, the future lies in what it terms "software plus services" -- that is, using traditional desktop software (like the company's popular Office franchise) to connect to the web to access online services. Adobe believes the future rests on cross-platform software that allows developers to use web-based tools to build applications that run inside a web browser or, with AIR, can be installed as full-featured desktop software programs. (The grass is always greener on the other side - just joking!!)
As per my understanding of the situation, the differing views of Microsoft and Adobe on the future of computing landscape can be consolidated, in layman terms, as that the entire landscape of computing is going to get amalgamated big time. Players, including software developers and end users, on client sites – standalone PCs, laptops, and handheld mobile devices – are going to leverage the potential of server-site computing. Similarly, the vice versa holds true – players on server sites need to leverage the potential of client-site computing. Thus, both MS and Adobe are perfectly right in their visions of the future of computing. There are no differing views – both of them are starting off their journeys from so-called two opposite ends to the other end of the same spectrum.
For example, the recently released the Adobe Media Player, built with AIR, can both access online video subscriptions and organize locally-stored Flash video files. In the works is an AIR version of Buzzword, a word processor with many of the basic text formatting features found in Microsoft Word and similar programs. A number of other companies including eBay, AOL and Salesforce.com have deployed AIR applications. Adobe hopes many more will follow.
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