Adobe AIR vs Microsoft Silverlight

• Adobe AIR supports a lot of commonly needed features for mobile app development.
• It is fairly stable and consistent once you learn how to use it.
• It is cross-platform and is supported by some useful third-party plugins.

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• Silverlight interprets XAML directly
• Take your .NET code cross-platform
• Third-party component vendors are already well on with Silverlight add-ons

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• It is cumbersome to update if you use Flash Builder.
• It still relies on Flash and vector graphics and therefore can have poor performance unless you are using a third-party library such as Starling.
• It is updated somewhat slowly and is still missing some useful features such as controller support.

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• No support for the popular H.264 video codec
• Another effort to promote proprietary technology rather than open standards
• Silverlight is a browser-only solution

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• Using Adobe AIR allows your team to be comprised of Flash/ActionScript 3 developers, which can be easy/cheap to find compared to other disciplines (based on location). This can lower the bottom-line in terms of engineering costs.
• As the Adobe AIR SDK is free to use, the cost of entry is basically free. Additionally, the Adobe AIR SDK may be used in conjunction with a free IDE, such as FlashDevelop, making the entire stack completely free to use.
• One negative impact is the stigma against Adobe Flash/AIR. Due to Adobe's less than stellar track record (in terms of support and security) with both Flash and Flash Mobile, there are numerous clients that we've dealt with, that refused to approve Adobe AIR as a tool.

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• Allows us to print shipping labels with ease, saving time and money!
• Allows users to navigate the UPS shipping campus.
• Due to shipping restrictions in some areas, having options available to ship, made possible by Silverlight, is crucial!

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