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The install process kicks AIRs butt. The sample app tweetanium downloaded as a DMG. I dropped it in my apps folder, opened it, clicked the customary OSx "you go
by rrhyne 18y ago
The install process kicks AIRs butt. The sample app tweetanium downloaded as a DMG. I dropped it in my apps folder, opened it, clicked the customary OSx "you got this from the internet", warning and boom I was twitting.
Comepare this to AIR:
•flash is required
•specific flash version required
•install air runtime
•install air app
•present REALLY scary warning to user (causes massive dropoffs in the installation process)
•require 200-400$ cert from dev to make that warning 5% less scary.
- proee 18y agoI couldn't agree more. I've really wanted to jump on the "air" bandwagon but for the reasons you mentioned it's just too much of a risk. Why can't Adobe offer the developer the option to wrap an air application into a standalone piece of software? There was some work done by someone to do this and they created the "Shu Player" but Adobe cried foul. (http://shu-player.com/air-runtime-notice http://shu-player.com/air-runtime-notice) Can anyone explain why Adobe is so resistant to improving the distribution process for air applications?
- iron_ball 18y agoI couldn't tell you about the runtime install, but the scare screens are because Adobe, like Macromedia before them, are EXTREMELY paranoid about security. They don't want someone downloading an AIR app, saying "this looks legit," and then it deletes C:/ or steals their identity or something. The "we have no idea who made this and have no reason to trust them" screen makes sense in that context. Of course, the exact same warnings apply to every single app anyone has ever downloaded off the internet, so I can't really agree with AIR's stance except in the purest abstract.
- rrhyne 18y agoExactly... why they feel the need to go so much further than Apple or even microsoft go with desktop apps is beyond me. The sandbox security restrictions are HUGE as it is and add days of programing time already, why halve our install base with scare tactics?
- andrewf 18y agoThat the users even know something is an AIR app is an indication as to how broken that install process is. Compare with VB6 / Delphi / Qt / MFC - users who aren't themselves developers never had a clue. Just this week, the Paint.NET folks were blogging about not being able to move to the latest version of Windows Installer because XP installs without SP3 won't have the runtime by default. For a downloadable application, extra megabytes are a big blow and extra required steps from the user are an absolute killer. Why would you take the upfront hit to people trying your software? Java and .NET are still far less prevalent in the apps-for-sale market than they are in the inhouse-corporate market, and I think this is largely the reason why.
- jtgrassie 18y agoWe agree! The sandbox is ridiculous for a 'desktop' application. You can delete a users entire hard drive but cant launch an application! Shu (http://shu-player.com http://shu-player.com) does deal with the shortcomings of AIR and we also recently released a version that is compatible with Adobe's license agreement.
- bprater 18y agoIn general, beyond AppStore, there is no good download platform on the leading OSes. With this product, you still have to know how to drag the app into the App's folder and then you need to know how to dig around your Applications to find it. If you can get past the AIR app install, it automatically launches it for you. I don't know which would be easier for grandma to do.
- rrhyne 18y agoI'd go with one step, dragging the app over to applications, (I admit it's a bit wonkey) over the 5 separate windows AIR manages to spawn.