"With the alpha release of Adobe AIR for Linux and the Adobe Flex Builder for Linux alpha update, we're delivering early releases of a first-class application runtime and RIA creation tool to the Linux community," said David Wadhwani (pictured), Adobe's general manager of its Platform business unit, as Adobe today announced that the pre-release alpha version of Adobe AIR software for Linux is available on Adobe Labs (www.adobe.com/go/airlinux).

"This allows us to have an open conversation with users during our development process, which will give us very valuable developer insights," Wadhwani continued.

"Adobe is committed to delivering the technologies that enable developers everywhere to create the next generation of RIAs for the browser and the desktop," he added.

An update to the alpha version of Adobe Flex Builder 3 for Linux software is also available on Adobe Labs today which adds support for creating applications that run on Adobe AIR.

The combination of Flex, Adobe AIR and Adobe Flash Player 9 for Linux comprises a well supported, free RIA development platform that enables developers to build, debug and deploy RIAs entirely on Linux, and across browsers and desktops, according to Adobe.

"RIAs in the browser and desktop are an increasingly core part of today's computing experience and the Linux community plays a big part in innovating the future of RIAs," commented Randy Linnell, business development manager at Canonical, commercial sponsor of Ubuntu. "We're pleased Linux is a priority for Adobe and are delighted to work with them on ensuring Adobe AIR and Adobe Flex Builder 3 are available to our developer community. We're pleased that Adobe is supporting and open sourcing technology involved in RIA development, which we feel will accelerate innovation."

Flex, Adobe AIR and Adobe Flash Player are key elements of the Adobe technology platform.