This week saw the launch of two new runtimes: Google's Native Client and Appcelerator Titanium. In addition, the Silverlight toolkit gets a refresh, Adobe Max content is made available online, and Adobe partners with Spring for Flex support. All this and more on the Weekly RIA RoundUp from InsideRIA.

FEATURED: Google Native Client

Out of the blue, Google released the Google Native Client this week. This project joins the many others that are running native code in the browser. Just as with the Adobe Alchemy project, the Native Client team has ported Quake to run in the browser. The Native Client site states:

Native Client is an open-source research technology for running x86 native code in web applications, with the goal of maintaining the browser neutrality, OS portability, and safety that people expect from web apps. ... We believe that Native Client technology will someday help web developers to create richer and more dynamic browser-based applications.

Google Native Client is currently available for Windows, Mac, and Linux. It is also is an open-source project hosted at Google Code. The initial release includes the browser plugin, the runtime, and compilation tools.

Google Native Client

Google Code Blog: Native Client: A Technology for Running Native Code on the Web

FEATURED: Appcelerator Titanium

Appcelerator has taken the plunge from web applications to desktop applications with Appcelerator Titanium. The runtime and API are designed specifically to compete with the features found in Adobe AIR. One of the main differences between the two is that Titanium is open source. The initial version of the runtime runs on Windows and Mac, and a Linux version is slated to be released next month. In addition to targeting these three platforms, Titanium also plans to expand into the mobile market.

Titanium utilizes several open-source project in the SDK including Google Gears, Google Chromium, WebKit, jQuery, GTK+, as well as the Appcelerator SDK. The Titanium SDK can be downloaded today, and it includes a sample twitter application that you can work with.

Appcelerator Titanium

Ajaxian: Appcelerator Titanium: Breathing AIR for the Open Web

Silverlight Toolkit December 2008 Release

The Silverlight toolkit received a refresh this week. The refresh includes updates to many of the exiting controls as well as some new controls that developers can integrate into their applications. Also included is a new Sample Explorer that will let developers see some of the new controls in action.

Jeff Wilcox (Microsoft): Announcing the availability of the Silverlight Toolkit December 2008 release

Silverlight Toolkit Sample Explorer

Catch Sessions from Adobe Max on Adobe TV

This year Adobe went to the effort of recording most every session at the Max conference. Ted Patrick first mentioned that Adobe would begin offering this content online for free through Adobe TV. This week the first round of talks were posted this week. Initially, there are five talks from each of the conference tracks available now:

MAX 2008 Design Track
MAX 2008 Develop Track
MAX 2008 Envision Track

Details on Flex 4 and Flash Catalyst from Max 2008

One of the videos that was posted this week from the Adobe Max conference covers information on Flash Catalyst and Flex Builder 4 which gives an even greater view into how all of these new technologies will work with one another as well as applications from the Creative Suite.

Ted Patrick (Adobe): MAX Sessions Online - Intro to Catalyst and Flex 4

Adobe Supporting Java+Flex with Spring

Adobe formally announced that they will be working with the Spring project to increase support for Flex applications that want to utilize BlazeDS and Spring. The press release states:

Adobe Systems Incorporated today announced that it is working with SpringSource to simplify the development and deployment of rich enterprise Java(TM) applications through a collaboration that will provide integration between the Adobe(R) Flash(R) and SpringSource platforms. This collaboration will make it easy for Java developers to create enterprise-class rich Internet applications (RIAs) using Adobe Flex(R) software, a cornerstone of the Adobe Flash Platform, and Spring, the de facto standard for enterprise Java.

Christophe Coenraets from Adobe also stated that Adobe is developing an adapter for Spring that will work with LiveCycle Data Services.

Christophe Coenraets (Adobe): Adobe Collaborates with SpringSource for Enhanced Flex / Spring Integration

Read more from David Tucker.