Adobe AIR is a great way for developers to make desktop applications full of rich content that can be depoyed cross platform. However, up until today those who tried to run AIR applications on Linux had a rough time. The runtime and Software Development Kit (SDK) for AIR was originally released only for the Mac and Windows. Linux users required their own SDK; a public beta was pushed out earlier this year, and as beta testing goes, it had issues. Through a lot of feedback given by developers, Adobe was able to determine the problems with the software and the needs of the Linux community – just like how any other beta test works.

Yesterday Adobe proudly announced that they have released the AIR 1.5 runtime and SDK for Linux. However, with this comes a few small problems:

1. Only three distributions of Linux are supported, all open: Ubuntu, Fedora and openSUSE. There are specific versions supported as well, so you will need to check the details.
2. The 64-bit Linux distributions are not natively supported. Adobe has posted some information regarding the Flash Player 10 pre-release and a work-around to get AIR onto 64-bit Linux.

The good news?

You are now able to run all the wonderful applications your friends that use a Mac or a PC can! Applications like TweetDeck and Twhirl are now available, including countless others. You can check out the Adobe AIR Marketplace for more applications to download.

Are you an AIR developer? How does this change affect how you are developing your application? Don’t forget to leave your comments!