Adobe Blurs Line Between PC and Web

[gagquin]

SAN FRANCISCO — On sabbatical in 2001 from Macromedia, Kevin Lynch, a software developer, was frustrated that he could not get to his Web data when he was off the Internet and annoyed that he could not get to his PC data when he was traveling.

Why couldn't he have access to all his information, like movie schedules and word processing documents, in one place?

He hit upon an idea that he called "Kevincloud" and mocked up a quick demonstration of the idea for executives at Macromedia, a software development tools company. It took data stored on the Internet and used it interchangeably with information on a PC's hard drive. Kevincloud also blurred the line between Internet and PC applications.

Seven years later, his brainchild is about to come into focus on millions of PCs. On Monday, Mr. Lynch, who was recently named the chief technology officer at Adobe Systems, which bought Macromedia in 2005, will release the official version of AIR, a software development system that will power potentially tens of thousands of applications that merge the Internet and the PC, as well as blur the distinctions between PCs and new computing devices like smartphones.

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