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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 the various versions of Shu, developers can now easily overcome these restrictions, taking all the great features of an AIR application and packaging them into a powerfully extended application that either runs standalone or installs to the user's computer.

Shu really is the obvious choice for any developers wanting to develop and deploy professional AIR applications.

Your Shu choices

Shu comes in three flavours: Shu, Shu SA and Shu SA Lite. Each version caters to different needs for your applications — compare the products in the products page to find out which suits your own particular requirements, and take a look at the Shu FAQs to get answers to common questions.