A week ago Adobe plunged deeper into Microsoft territory as it formally launched AIR, software which is meant to let applications run seamlessly outside the browser on both the Web and on disconnected PCs. This is a direct pitch to Microsoft’s core constituency: developers who have traditionally written for desktop machines but now want to tap into a hybrid Web/PC platform.

Here in Las Vegas today, Microsoft hit back. Its annual MIX conference has become an important venue for a group of people who have traditionally sat firmly in the Adobe camp: designers and creators of light-weight Web applications who do not fit the traditional Microsoft developer mold. Read more