I've read about each of these but I still don't understand how they all inter-operate, which are competing technologies, or even really what each of them is distinctly. Flash, Air, Flex... Are these all "containers"/JVM-like runtime environments, in which ActionScript code runs? SWF,FLV,AIR... Are these competing file formats which a Flash, Air or Flex runtime environment executes? ActionScript is a C-like language which compiles to SWF, FLV or AIR files? Sorry, with all the marketing around these terms, some of which are used interchangeably, I am quite lost. Suppose I wanted to write an AIR application... what would that entail? Writing ActionScript, compiling it to a SWF, and then installing the AIR runtime to execute it? How's that different than Flash? If I want to play AIR applications do I need a separate AIR runtime or does Flash execute AIR apps?