2018 Roadmap?

[dogofpavlov]

So last year around this time, there was a post asking for an update or a roadmap from Adobe about AIR. https://forums.adobe.com/message/9389104#9389104 Chris Campbell commented saying "We're working on our 2017 and beyond roadmap" and "I'll post back to the thread with our thoughts". Seeing as its now 2018, can we finally get that roadmap, or the thoughts?

[ASWC]

That's just common sense, good for you.

AIR jobs are parse/almost non existent, AIR is not mentioned anymore in any cross platform article, Adobe itself is shady and has no straight answers about any AIR related subject, AIR activity on stackoverflow is near non existent, the roadmap is really easy to write: maintenance until death. While indy developers can afford to hope and stick to AIR until Adobe shuts it down, companies can't and have to move on before they are forced to. The number of people using AIR is now low and will only keep on shrinking which is what Adobe has worked actively on achieving just like they did for Flash.

If you can't see or ignore all the signs and can't remember the past with Adobe and their handling of Flash, then I can see why you would think AIR's future is a bright one. Other than that, the end of AIR is near and will come sooner than most of us think.

[dogofpavlov]

I just think its so sad Adobe doesn't do more to market AIR. I find that pretty much everyone who use and love AIR, KNOWS it's benefits and can produce quality content with it, but the people who DONT shit on it and Adobe just lets it happen. They needed to find a way to make money from AIR but now I think it's too late. I've seen countless comments about how amazed they were at how rapid it is to build out 99.999% native speed UI with AIR, let alone the  games people have made. AIR rocks, and it's just so sad it's not getting the love it deserved all cause of the Flash name.

I've already begun my transition as well, I've built a few apps in Cordova/Ionic and React Native.The venture in the JS framework world is chaos as a new framework comes out every few months that replaces the current standards. I find so many times some convoluted/terminology or way of doing something in JS thats packaged with some fancy name at the end of the day ends up being a standard practice I did all the time with as3. I've done a few Unity tutorials and it seems to be not too bad as well.

[ASWC]

AIR is the best and to be honest I still think Flash was the best as well but the best doesn't always win, that's the bottom line. When the company that's doing it is not committed and tons of people are extremely committed to make it die then the result is inevitable. 

[rewb0rn]

While I agree that the comment from Preran comes a bit unexpected, I must say the Air 29 update does look quite nicely. The integration of Win32 with Win64 builds show some committment that I would not expect if Air had an expiration date set. Also, not announcing the expiration date together with the announcement for the end of Flash does sound like they do have plans for Air.

Preran can you please confirm that you talked with Chris about the roadmap? Because he promised that a roadmap would come and we all are waiting for it as a symbolic gesture that there is more to come from Air.

Thanks

[Preran]

Yes, the information that was shared with me by Chris is exactly what I have passed on. I receive updates to roadmap changes only after they are final, and if I hear of anything, I will make sure to update this post.

[dogofpavlov]

Preran  wrote

Yes, the information that was shared with me by Chris is exactly what I have passed on. I receive updates to roadmap changes only after they are final, and if I hear of anything, I will make sure to update this post.

Can you ask Chris if he plans on coming through with what he said he would do? I hate to keep pestering, but I hope you realize you are the only word we've had from Adobe in months about a roadmap.

[jarethv47143634]

Given Apple recently announced the deprecation of OpenGL and OpenCL on MacOS (https://developer.apple.com/macos/whats-new/#deprecationofopenglandopencl) and this could be a precursor to similar changes on iOS, it would be nice to get a confirmation and update on the topic of "METAL bindings for Stage3D".

[Flipline]

They've also announced deprecation of OpenGL ES for iOS 12:

https://developer.apple.com/ios/whats-new/#deprecationofopengles

Does anyone have information on how "GPU" render mode is handled, and if this will also be affected like Stage3D by these deprecations?  I'm not too familiar with what GPU render mode is doing under the hood.

[rakeshk53949702]

Hi,

Unlike Adobe Flash player support ends in 2020. Would Adobe end support for Adobe Shockwave Player.

[DaveCates]

Any update on this? A new roadmap would be ace before we all start having to jump onto naff systems such as React Native...losing 20+ years of ace cross-platform development progress....yuk

[rewb0rn]

2019 Roadmap please!

[ASWC]

Surprise me Adobe!!

[Applauz]

Just wanted to share with the community that we have a team that has struggled like you wouldn’t believe to get a React Native app to work and be 1/2 decent. 

I them showed them AIR and how easy it was to achieve the exact same thing.  Their jaws hit the floor.  They had no clue. 

Too bad Adobe isn’t investing in showing everyone the power of AIR build mobile apps.

[zwetan_uk]

Applauz  wrote

Their jaws hit the floor.  They had no clue. 

most dev don't, that's why Adobe AIR is a huge competitive advantage when you know it exists

[Vivid75]

We don’t need a Roadmap to move forward with Adobe Air. As long as the sdk follows Apple and Google standards, all of the magic happens with AIR native extensions. The as3 language is very mature and the animation capabilities rival all similar JS eqivalents which still rely on the browser. Please support those developers who build ANEs (Distriqt and MyFlashLabs are 2 of my favorites). They are the ones who will continue to keep innovation alive with AIR. I’m also looking into the demand of having training on how to build cross platform apps using Adobe AIR and Animate CC. I’m thinking of putting together materials for PluralSight. Let me know if this is something that would be valuable to the community. Long live AIR!

[phillipkerman]

My customer and I are invested in AIR but that first provision "as long as the SDK follows Apple/Google..." is the exact risk we see.  Both platforms periodically make a change that requires a new AIR SDK materializes to support it.  Not sure why so many people believe what they wish will happen (Adobe supports AIR "forever").

It's not at all concerning that Adobe is silent on this question?  I'd just wish Adobe would come out and clarify, unfortunately their silence is clarification enough. 

[zwetan_uk]

When you build apps there are no such things as "zero risks"

but asking to Adobe to commit on things they can not control is kind of ridiculous

So far Adobe have clearly said they will support Adobe AIR

read here
Locked by Moderator, Not on subject anymore,AIR Roadmap Update

With the news today regarding Flash Player, I'm sure many of you have questions regarding AIR and its future roadmap.  Let me start by saying that today's announcement was not about AIR, and instead focuses entirely on Flash Player and the browser plugin environment.  Adobe remains committed to AIR and we believe it continues to be a great desktop and mobile development platform.

(emphasis mine)

what else do you need?

Most problems I see with dev using the AIR SDK is when an external factor like Apple, Google, etc.
change something, and then some dev complaining because they are not patient enough to wait for Adobe to patch the

AIR SDK to support those changes, so yeah "iOS SDK beta" (or any other thing) will break some things then some dev will complain

then the AIR SDK will be updated.

That's kind of the "deal", there is no way that the AIR SDK can support something beta from day one

so yeah dev will have to wait for the next SDK to support those changes, and so far Adobe been

releasing those SDK updates on a quarterly basis and never failed for the last 7 years or so

Flash Player and Adobe AIR feature list | Adobe Developer Connection

Again, what else do you need?

When you use Google services, for example, those can vanish any time and yet everyone accept it
see https://gcemetery.co/

When you buy Apple hardware, another example, you do know this hardware will become obsolete
see Vintage and obsolete products - Apple Support

So since Adobe AIR 1.0 back in February 2008, to now AIR v32 (December 2018),

since AIR v3.0 (2011) with the change of pace to do quarterly releases, and since the

Flash EOL where someone from Adobe officially said "Adobe remains committed to AIR"

seriously what else do you need?

[phillipkerman]

With all due respect, you don't speak for Adobe. Also, the last statement from them (which you quote) was over 1 year ago--so that's not exactly satisfactory to make anyone relax.

Adobe is a publicly held company and is obligated to tell the truth when detailing their public plans.  The fact they're silent makes me think they must not want to make any more positive statements (you do agree they've been silent right?).Yes everything has risks.

Anyway,  yes everything has risks. But to point to Google and Apple as external entities ignores the point that seems super obvious: the only reason we're using AIR is to target those platforms. 

Finally, I totally see Adobe providing patches/updates to AIR.  That is support they agree they should be doing--nothing more, nothing less.   I just wish they'd give some kind of certainty vs silence.

[davidrenelt]

For some reason it's zwetan's hobby to defend Adobe. Unfortunately he's  un-/ intentionally missing any points anyone makes. The fact is, nothing in the IT space last's forever. I've forgotten more languages then i'm currently capable to code in. The thing is, everyone want's to hit the sweet spot, were a technology is mature and yet still relevant. I'd say that Adobe AIR is still in this spot, but with a indication that it's not going to be around for many, but a couple years to come. Adobe seems to be willing to support the tech, but since Molehill there hasn't been any major investment in the platform and marketing for it is virtually zero at this point.

In a way it's in a similar position as Java. And Java has been there for years and years .. so it is quite possible that Adobe AIR in it's current form with updated support for newer OS's is going to be around for a long time. But personally, i doubt it, simply because at some point the cost even for the basic support will get some board member nervous. This is all speculation of course.

[Leo Kanel]

Let's see if it will make it out of this new fellow I saw yesterday:

"WARNING ITMS-90725: "SDK Version Issue. This app was built with the iOS 12.0 SDK. Starting March 2019, all iOS apps submitted to the App Store must be built with the iOS 12.1 SDK or later, included in Xcode 10.1 or later."

And then of course the August 2019 64bit restriction from Google.

davidrenelt  wrote

In a way it's in a similar position as Java. And Java has been there for years and years .. so it is quite possible that Adobe AIR in it's current form with updated support for newer OS's is going to be around for a long time.

The big difference is that Java as a language is actively developed but also used from major frameworks.

[Flipline]

https://forums.adobe.com/people/Leo+Kanel  wrote

Let's see if it will make it out of this new fellow I saw yesterday:

"WARNING ITMS-90725: "SDK Version Issue. This app was built with the iOS 12.0 SDK. Starting March 2019, all iOS apps submitted to the App Store must be built with the iOS 12.1 SDK or later, included in Xcode 10.1 or later."

Since they just switched to the 12.0 SDK in AIR 32, I'd hope they'd be able to switch over to 12.1 for the next AIR release.  This is where a roadmap would obviously be helpful though, so we'd know for sure if a stable release will be coming before March and if they're working towards the 64-bit Android requirements, especially since the deadlines for these are already known.  At least a confirmation that these items are coming would be nice.

[phillipkerman]

Yeah, absent a peep from Adobe and I think it's obvious they're not moving forward.  Please Adobe, prove me wrong.  I'd prefer to be wrong on this one, but geez, their silence is deafening.

[cevansGames]

The March 2019 warning on iOS submission has me a bit worried as well. It would be nice if Adobe could give assurances that this will be taken care of ahead of time, so I can assure my clients this won't be an issue. It would be a disaster if I suddenly can't release an update or new build to the app store for a client simply because it's Adobe Air...

Anyway I agree with most people in this topic. Adobe Air is a fantastic platform, it's a rapid and robust tool for getting games on mobile. And with Starling, 2D games can be wicked fast. We still have a very healthy ANE market, so as long as Adobe can at least keep up with Apple and Google's SDK updates, then Adobe Air should be good for at least another couple of years or so. The Air/Flash platform is already very mature, so it doesn't need a ton of feature updates. I can make a 2D Starling game that's indistinguishable from a Unity 2D game.

That said, it's starting to smell like the early stages of the decline of Shockwave around here. With Shockwave, staff help articles cease to be written, product pages began to be harder to access, and the staff blogs were rarely updated with upcoming plans. It's clear we are in a similar glide path with Air from Adobe and it's just in maintenance mode. I think the difference between Shockwave and Air though is that Air has a far better mature tech platform to sit on. Shockwave / Director became very bloated, wasn't compatible with any modern developer/versioning tools, and it used a non-standard archaic scripting language. Air doesn't have any of those problems. Shockwave relied on the "Xtras" 3rd party market for extra hardware functionality and that had completely dried up by this stage. Whereas Air still has a healthy ANE market.

I'm still going to use Air for mobile projects that have calendar release of 2019. But beyond that, if Adobe hasn't made any dramatic roadmap announcements and improved the visibility of Air on their website, I'm going to begin shifting my projects to other platforms. I've already dabbled in HTML5 and Unity. I've learned to read Adobe's body language after getting burned with Shockwave and Flash. Adobe has clearly lost interest in interactive content and don't see it as a money maker anymore. I just wish instead of letting it die a lonely death like Shockwave, they would make Flash/Air open-source and let the community carry the torch.

[Applauz]

I have approx 30 apps on the App Store and another 30 on Google Play.  AIR is by far my favourite platform to use. It's also the ONLY Adobe product I use in my workflow. I haven't used Photoshop in over 2 years due to Sketch.

Very sad to think that if Adobe abandons AIR... my relationship with Adobe will fully come to an end after 20 years.