A brief background of Adobe AIR AIR is Adobe's way of merging the web and the desktop by letting application developers distribute their, well, applications without thinking about the platform. Applications developed using AIR runs on all platforms, and I mean ALL platforms. For Adobe to release AIR and making it available on all platforms makes the company admirable, almost noble, in my eyes. What makes them look like evil pigs is that they don't want to release their other applications, specifically Creative Suite, in a Linux-flavored version, though I don't know why or how it can be so hard to do since OS X is Unix-based already and they have a version for the said operating system. For me, this is another revenue stream Adobe is deliberately neglecting. I mean, we all know operating systems such as Windows and OS X costs a pretty penny, and Adobe software is not different. In not-so-good times, people are looking for cheap, or free, alternatives. A free operating system is a godsend for bargain-hunters, and free software more so. Remember the Task Remember The Task is an AIR app that lets you add, edit, and mark tasks in your Remember The Milk task list. As you may well know, Remember The Milk is a web app that lets you manage your tasks. It is far better than GMail's Tasks feature, though I hope that someday, GMail's Tasks will allow importing and exporting tasks between the two web services, and vice versa. However, if you have added the RTM gadget in GMail, the app essentially lifted that same gadget and simply put it on your desktop. Simple, familiar, and super-useful for those wanting to deviate from the browser every once in a while. MePing Ping.fm's web service, which lets you update social network services with your status updates and microblog posts, is something I consider very indispensable. It makes it very easy for me to update all my social networks in one go. MePing lets you use Ping.fm's web service without a browser, and so far, it is the better looking AIR app that I have seen amongst other Ping.fm-related AIR apps. The only thing lacking in this AIR app is a notification that tells you that your message has been posted. Another feature that might be a good addition would be the capability to post videos, in addition to uploading pictures and adding geolocation information. Those familiar with Ping.fm's service will surely be comfortable using this AIR app. twhirl twhirl is one of the apps I immediately launch after logging in on my desktop. It has support for various microblogging services like Twitter, Friendfeed, and the Twitter-clone Identi.ca, among others. It basically helps me keep up with the various updates on services I currently subscribe to. Other services that I wish twhirl adds in the near future would be Facebook updates, which resides in a walled garden, and Plurk updates, which doesn't have an official API. If twhirl adds those two services, which is when hell freezes over, there will be no need for me to log in to those services using a browser, except for account settings-related reasons. Primarily, I use Ubuntu as my weapon of choice. I seldom log in to my Windows install. These AIR apps help ease the transition from using Windows to Linux for those wanting to save a few bucks with their operating system, at least, in my opinion. Hopefully, Adobe's AIR let people break away from proprietary operating systems and consider better and cheaper alternatives. "It doesn't run on Linux" shouldn't be used as an excuse. Not anymore.