This afternoon Steven Sacks sent me the link to the Shu-Player website. At first I was great just another extension or plug-in to use. But I began reading about it and it appears to give developers the ability to actually launch native apps on the system using Air by extending it with features we have been wanting, and it works for both MAC and PC no less. The ability to launch native applications is just one of many gripes developers tend to have when using air as they are often needing to use other apps in conjunction with the one built in Air. This Shu app seems to be giving developers the ability to that and some more. Now, another gut reaction I had was oh nice another ZINC like app that will go away in a few months because Adobe will just do what these guys are doing. Well, that might be true and who knows what Adobe will do. But for now this looks promising and maybe Adobe will take some notes and give developers what they want. We'll just have to see. Anyway's, read below to see what the Shu-Player claims to offer. At the very least Adobe knows that their desktop application framework might be fAIR at best and could do well by adding some addition features in the future. If its anything like they did with Lazlo or Zinc they will do something themselves and then let us use it way off in the unforeseen future. Also you should hear what Steven Sacks has to say about this as well: http://www.stevensacks.net/2008/03/31/a-wrapper-for-adobes-wrapper/
What Does Shu Do For You?
Shu enables you to increase the power and reach of Adobe AIR. With Shu your AIR applications can quickly be converted into standalone applications to run on PC or Mac machines without the AIR runtime installed! Shu applications can also be run from a CD or network share and do not require installation.
In addition Shu provides you the developer with a toolkit of commands to extend the system capabilities of your AIR application, features include, controlling external applications, opening external files, database connectivity and control, system path retrieval and screen capture functionality. With Shu you can now truly harness the power of your AIR applications from the desktop and beyond!
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Adobe AIR brings the convenience of the browser to the desktop but without any of the limitations. Developers can now rapidly create Rich Internet Applications using the proven web technologies that they are familiar with namely, JavaScript and ActionScript. User experiences can be self contained, controlled and branded.
Desktop integration provides new functionality; local storage, encryption, notification, access to the desktop file system and the ability to operate offline. AIR also supports multiple platform delivery, which means that AIR applications can be installed, and run on multiple operating systems. The RIA has truly come of age.
But AIR does have a number of drawbacks;
- AIR applications must be installed in order to run.
- AIR applications will only run on a machine with the AIR runtime installed
- AIR applications can not be run directly from a CD
- AIR applications can not open files such as word documents or PDFs
- AIR applications can not execute other applications
- AIR application can only make use of the built in SQLite database
With Shu developers can now easily over come these restrictions, taking all the great features of an AIR application and packaging them into a powerful standalone application.
Shu really is the obvious choice for any developers wanting to develop and deploy professional AIR applications.
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Latest News
SHU site launches - 01.04.08
The long awaited launch of the world's first AIR packager application for extending AIR features. Read more
6 comments:
Very cool. Going to give it a try now!!! Maybe at last I can stop using flakey Zinc!!
"another ZINC like app that will go away in a few months because Adobe will just do what these guys are doing"
Frankie, I have to disagree with you in this one.
I use Zinc 2.5 because there is lots of things that I need to use that unfortunely Adobe didnt do yet.
2 Short examples:
- Ability to use UDP messages between apps
- Control of the COM Ports, for opening, close and send commands.
fyi
fyi, Adobe does allow developers to redistribute the Adobe AIR installer with permission. More info here:
http://www.mikechambers.com/blog/2008/04/07/redistributing-the-adobe-air-runtime-installer/
However, we do not allow the redistribution of just the runtime or parts of the runtime (i.e. you cannot run AIR application without installing Adobe AIR).
from the comments on that post:
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Furthermore, Adobe has not granted any software tool provider or other party the right do to so. Adobe does not encourage the use of any software that promotes a prohibited use of Adobe AIR or relies on undocumented capabilities.
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So, in most, if not all cases, using Shu to distribute AIR applications (and parts of the AIR runtime) that dont require that Adobe AIR be installed is prohibited by the licensing for Adobe AIR.
You could of course write an installer that first installed Adobe AIR, and then your application though. You just need to apply for a license to redistribute the installer.
Hope that helps clarify...
mike chambers
mesh@adobe.com
What if we do not want the user to install anything? What if the user is not allowed to install software? For my current project, I have to assume the user cannot install anything, so based on these restrictions with Air I suppose I cannot use the shu player?
We released a version of Shu recently that is compatible with the standard AIR redistribution agreement, specifically for users concerned about obtaining custom license from Adobe.
As of yesterday we also changed the prices of each version of Shu, and I'm sure most people will find them rather more agreeable!
Has anyone had any success with this?
We've had problems installing air apps with shu if air has alredy been installed. if air has not been installed it works OK
It also seems that support from Shu is spotty at best. You can't really talk to anyone in support and they seem to take a couple weeks to get a written response.
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