Two betas were released this week which will probably be met with a resounding yawn from the average computer user, but which should be exciting for web developers.

First is the new version of Adobe Apollo, now called Adobe AIR (or Adobe Adobe Integrated Runtime–they want you to be doubly sure that it is indeed an Adobe tecnology.) The new name is silly, but this release marks the inclusion of full HTML and JavaScript support, making it possible to develop cross-platform desktop applications using easy-to-learn technologies that I’m already familiar with. I’m excited. I hope to put together some experiments…some time soon-ish.

The second release will interest developers who run Windows, and Mac-envious members of the general population. Apple has released the beta version of Safari 3–their web browser–for both Mac OSX and Windows. For the first time, Windows-based developers will be able to test websites in every major browser on one machine. With this release, Apple has eliminated my only real reason to buy a computer from them. I’d still love to try one out, but now it will have to wait that much longer.

You can get the Safari 3 beta for OSX and Windows at Apple’s Web Site.

Update: On the day that Safari 3 Beta was released for Windows, several security flaws were found in the software. Wired’s Compiler blog has more info about the security flaws. Safari 3 is beta software so this isn’t too surprising. I would suggest that the software is currently unfit for general web browsing, but will remain useful for browser testing.