IF you’re surfing the Internet, it’s very likely that you’re using a Web browser to receive or send information. However, there are times when a browser doesn’t serve every need, like when people want the desktop experience inside a browser, says Adobe Systems’ Asia-Pacific Web marketing development manager Brian Chau.

The browser is still a page-based environment that needs to be refreshed, he adds.

“One of the browser’s limitations is that it doesn’t behave like a desktop experience. It’s still based on page after page and still needs a page to refresh and reload. It is a page-based environment and not an application environment.”

This is where Adobe AIR (Adobe Integrated Runtime) comes in. Adobe AIR complements the Web browser as it provides the Web experience but adds desktop integration and local data access.

Chau explains that the AIR platform sits on top of the operating system, allowing people to run the applications. “AIR applications are client applications that improves the user experience and doesn’t need to do a page reload or refresh,” he says.

You can have Web applications running on your desktop without the need for a Web browser. “Think of AIR as a platform for people to build applications,” he says.

For example, you can open your Web browser to go to eBay but to get the latest information, the Web page needs to be refreshed and the browser left open. “With AIR, it enables users to have the eBay experience outside the browser. So it’s always on with real-time updates. The experience is better than just on a pure browser experience.”

Adobe also came up with the Adobe Media Player, an AIR application in beta that’s built with Flash and becomes a desktop application to subscribe, watch videos, get reminders or download new episodes.

“We have a catalogue. We have a system in place. Whoever wants to publish, there’s a link and they need to submit information. The company will work out who to showcase,” he explains.

And the beauty for developers is that AIR works cross-platform, so it’s easy for developers to build applications that run on both the Mac and Windows.

Another piece of good news for developers is that they don’t need to learn any new skills – they can use whatever Web development skills in hypertext markup language (HTML), asynchronous JavaScript and XML (AJAX), Flash and Flex to build these Internet applications for the desktop.

“The beauty from a developers’ point of view is fantastic,” Chau says. “It’s easier to build an application that’s truly cross-platform. And AIR takes care of the differences between the two operating systems.”

Doesn’t all these sound like widgets? Well, Chau explains that widgets are usually simple utilities. “With AIR, you can build a pretty complex application.” And because of the technology, over time you will see very sophisticated applications and not just widget-type applications, he adds.

While Chau says that the final release of Adobe Media Player is expected to be at the end of the quarter, there are still other applications that you can try out. You’ll first have to install the AIR platform, but some of the AIR applications will automatically do that for you.