Adobe’s been busy lately – not only launching Adobe Photoshop Express but announcing its joining the Linux Foundation. Another surprise: Adobe AIR for Linux.

Adobe AIR (Adobe Integrated Runtime) is still in alpha, though, according to InfoWorld and the new version will mean AIR now runs on all three major OSes – Windows, Mac and Linux. Due to its alpha status, AIR for Linux might not be able to run all the apps already working on the other versions.

Other features this version is missing are document printing, multiple monitor support, DRM (Digital Rights Management) and IPv6 (Internet Protocol version 6).

Developers already keen to start work on Linux-based AIR can rejoice at the simultaneous availability of the Adobe Flex Builder Linux alpha 3 along with Linux AIR. 

Back to Adobe joining the Linux foundation: they’ve got good company in Google, Nokia, IBM and Hewlett-Packard. But though the Linux Foundation hails the move as “a natural extension of its commitment to open standards and open source,” InfoWorld rightly points out that the commitment is limited – Adobe won’t be publishing source code for the Linux version of AIR. Not to mention Adobe’s EULA forbids attempts to  “reverse engineer, decompile, disassemble or otherwise attempt to discover the source code of the software.”

With traditionally closed, proprietary software makers beginning to ‘make nice’ with Open Source – Microsoft, for example, open source seems to no longer be seen as the enemy or a threat to revenue. Instead of attempting to stamp it out (how do you fight ‘free’?), perhaps the companies found a better use of their time leveraging Open Source to make, instead of lose profit.

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Entry was posted on Monday, March 31st, 2008 at 2:52 pm under Linux, Software, Web2.0.

Read more entries by Erna Mahyuni.
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