Adobe’s Change to the Computing Landscape

The cloud computing model is central to building web software. But there needs to be a balance between local client computing and cloud computing. The best applications will have an architecture that leverages both -- they're not totally in the cloud and not totally on the client.

Adobe’s AIR, in particular, is designed for that hybrid model. You can take advantage of the local computing environment in a way that is functional across different Operating Systems. You can do local processing, even when you are offline. But you can also take advantage of services in the cloud and even integrate the best data from multiple sources across the cloud into one application. The blended model of cloud and client is one that takes the best advantage of the computing landscape.

One could say, "Hey, it's all going to be cloud computing," but that is ignoring all the processing power that we have in front of us on our computers, or, you can say, "Hey, it's really still about the desktop," but that's ignoring the revolution of the Internet and all of the services available in the cloud.

You want a solution that helps you balance across both. That's hopefully the architecture the world is building.

The Success Story of China

China’s growth rate has been superb. Its success story can be summarized as:

1) Its export of electronic goods stands at USD 180 billion a year.

2) One-third of all the shoes exported to the world are made in China.

3) It makes 75 percent of the world’s toys.

4) Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) is at USD 70 billion a year.

5) Shanghai alone has nearly 4000 skyscrapers (just for comparison, more than all of India’s, and more than those of Los Angeles and Chicago combined).

6) It has built around 60000 kilometers of expressways and will soon outstrip the total length of the US highway network.

7) Per Capita Income has risen to over USD 6000, although not very high a figure, but ten-times of what it was in 1978.

8) The number of its people living in absolute poverty has dropped from 425 million, two decades ago, to 26 million, as of today.

9) Its population is almost totally literate.

10) The life expectancy of its people is reaching the level of that of developed countries.

11) This year, it is expected to overtake Germany to become the world’s third largest economy, leaving it behind the US and Japan only.

Overall, China is on the go. But, just to caution you for not over inferring the figures, ‘Made in China’ means ‘Made by America or Europe in China.’ A very high share of the benefits goes abroad, to the foreign companies that have set up factories in China.