Twitter is one of the mostly used social networking sitesin the world . The most praised  feature of Twitter is that it can be accessed from anywhere , from web , desktop ,mobile etc . There is something special about  Twitter real time search ,it helps us to be updated with on going events in the web , media ,news and the life of common people .But sometimes its very difficult to sign into Twitter via web and we need to keep the page refreshed to get new tweets . Here comes the use of Twitter desktop applications like TweetDeck and Twhirl, which uses Adobe AIR technology to bring real Twitter experience in desktops .

Intense Twitter users would probably know Twitter desktop clients like Twhirl and Tweetdeck . Since they uses Adobe AIR , they are platform independent and runs on Windows ,Linux and MAC . What you need a runtime environment , Adobe AIR framework pre installed on your machine.

TweetDeck : TweetDeck is the No:1 Twitter desktop client as per the latest usage statics. You can send receive tweets , Shorten URLs , send direct messages ,attach Twitpics , translate tweets and many more . New version has Facebook support that lets you to update both statuses at same time . Tweetdeck resides in taskbar,refreshes and you will get notifications when someone updates their timeline .

Download TweetDeck Twitter desktop client .

Twhirl :
Twhril has a more compact architecture than TweetDeck .
Twhril   supports Friendfeed , Seesmic ,identi.ca and laconi.ca accounts .
Users can update their Facebook , Linkedin , MySpace statuses as a whole .
Record Videos in Seesmic and and share them with Twitter friends .
Spell check Tweets /Updates .
Shorten URLs and Send images .

Download Twhril Twitter desktop client .

Adobe Flex  Builder 3 is a development environment for rich flex web applications and Adobe AIR cross platform desktop applications .At the same time ,Adobe ColdFusion 8 (.cfm) is server side coding language like ASP.NET and PHP .Adobe Flex  Builder 3 Pro and Adobe ColdFusion 8 costs 250 $ and 1,299 respectively . But If you are a student developer /teacher , now you can download AdobeFlex  Builder 3 Pro  and Adobe ColdFusion 8  free with out any charges .

Adobe Flex is an open source framework for creating  unbelievable web applications with great looks and robust architecture (Check out few examples ).Adobe AIR can run web applications on your local computer without the need of a web server .You might have used Twitter desktop clients like Twitdeck ,TWhirl  which uses Adobe AIR technology .Now you can develop these Flex application without purchasing Adobe Flex  Builder 3 . What you need is to confirm that you are a student or teacher by submitting a scanned copy of your identity card or letter from the head of your institution .

Download Adobe Flex  Builder 3 Pro free .

Adobe Coldfusion is a costly alternative to open source server side coding languages like PHP and ASP.net
It is a very powerful software tool with tight integration to all above mentioned platforms . But may be because of the cost ,Coldfusion 8 not widely used by developers .If you are existing or budding ColdFusion developer, now here you have an option for getting ColdFusion 8 free of cost .

Download Adobe ColdFusion 8 free .