Adobe drops Linux for Air

[HDave]

I guess I've been too busy programming Flex on Ubuntu for the past 5 months to have noticed:

http://blogs.adobe.com/open/2011/06/focusing-on-the-next-linux-client.html

Adobe's treatment of the Linux platform is atrocious so I guess I can't say I am shocked, but dropping Linux support for a "cross-platform" application platform is not smart in a world with 12+ million Ubuntu users.

In retaliation, I've signed up for the YouTube HTML5 beta and have to say the experience of watching video in Firefox without Flash is 100% awesome.

In further retaliation, I'll be pushing my company to move from Flash/Flex to HTML5/Javascript (or GWT) as a platform for our rich internet application.

If it weren't for Adobe Lightroom I'd love to say goodbye forever. I am a paying customer of Bibble, but its not yet up to the same level.

[Paqman]

They're still flogging the dead Air horse then?

[SavageWolf]

This is the final straw! I quit using Flex! Gasp! Shock!

Anyway, I have to put up a lot with it, ints are faster than uints, the compiler can't compile XML files (but tries), and so on...

I should do some speed tests between Flash and Webkit...

[BrokenKingpin]

The quicker we move away from Adobe's crap software the better. I really hope HTML5 puts an end to flash.

[johnnybgoode83]

This was the biggest non event in the history of technology for me as the first time I had heard of Adobe Air was when they dropped Linux support.

[ubupirate]

What's Adobe Air?

[Lucradia]

The quicker we move away from Adobe's crap software the better. I really hope HTML5 puts an end to flash.

HTML5 is not quite a drop-in replacement for flash.

Yes, it can do everything flash does, save for MySQL and PHP Queries. Among a few other things.


What's Adobe Air?

I know, right? I have never used anything that required Air. Or silverlight save for on microsoft.com.

[LowSky]

What's Adobe Air?

sorta like java.


at least they are still making an android version, lol.

[SharkMonster]

Adobe's treatment of the Linux platform is atrocious so I guess I can't say I am shocked, but dropping Linux support for a "cross-platform" application platform is not smart in a world with 12+ million Ubuntu users.


I think the key point is
since the release of AIR, we’ve seen only a 0.5% download share for desktop Linux

Adobe have finite resources, supporting (Desktop) Linux just isn't viable for them considering there are
already a 100 million Android devices and growing.

[SavageWolf]

Reminds me of that guy that was saying that Linux will fall due to the increase in Android smartphones...

ANDROID IS LINUX, PEOPLE!

[rg4w]

Personally I'm quite happy to return the favor. ;)

[VeeDubb]

Personally I'm quite happy to return the favor. ;)

+1

Adobe hasn't created a single piece of software since Photoshop 7 that I was interested in.

Flash - An unfortunate requirement for web browsing that is gradually being replaced html5 and other technologies.

Photoshop CS - The spawn of a once great program that has become a bloated monstrosity.

Lightroom - A great concept that was a bloated monstrosity from day one, and still somehow lacking in functionality found in many of its competitors.

Air - An obscure development platform that nobody uses outside of cheesey games on smartphones.

Acrobat and Acrobat Reader - Hasn't had a meaningful update in many years. It looks a little prettier these days, but does essentially the same thing it has always done. Several FOSS projects are able to provide 90% or more of it's functionality.



The reality, in my opinion, is that Adobe is rapidly becoming irrelevant.

[speedwell68]

The only things I have run with Adobe Air are Tweetdeck which I replaced with Twittergadget on my iGoogle homepage and the BBC iPlayer App, which I replaced with get-iplayer/giplayer. Air is bloaty in the extreme, it is no loss IMHO.