Adobe Air 2 brings efficiency improvements, new tools
updated 08:45 pm EDT, Thu June 10, 2010
Air 2 now available for Windows, Mac, Linux
Alongside Adobe's Flash 10.1 release on Thursday, the company also introduced an update to its cross-platform runtime environment, Air. The v2.0 revision is said to improve overall efficiency, with less CPU drain and up to 30 percent less memory usage, without requiring developers to modify their existing Air apps.
The latest version also brings hundreds of new APIs and dozens of new features. Networking APIs have been improved, allowing developers to build new apps such as multiplayer games or enterprise utilities. The JavaScript engine works up to twice as fast as the previous release, while support has been expanded for HTML5 and CSS3 construction.
The runtime environment boasts tighter integration with the operating system, with enhancements to file-system interaction, multi-touch and gesture APIs, detecting and mounting volumes, and printing capabilities. Developers can take advantage of native installers and native code integration using the NativeProcess API.
Adobe Air 2 is now available as a free download directly from the company. Adobe expects a variety of Air 2 apps to be available in the near future, including the Avatar movie application and Intuit Spheres, among others.
