As somebody who is stuck for the foreseeable future maintaining a huge AIR app I resemble that comment!
It's kinda a drag though because AIR actually provides a fantastic cross-platform solution for desktop apps. Even thought they are in ActionScript, it's extremely similar writing Javascript apps that have model binding.
I feel like I've tried every cross platform environment from AIR to Titanium to Java/QT to RealBasic, to Mono and none of them are quite as easy and predictable to get running as an AIR app. I guess going with straight-up C would be better but nobody on my team has that kind of experience.
Anyway, probably off topic rant, but I think AIR would be a reasonable choice for a desktop game. The main problem with it right now is that it feels like it's gone out of favor and everybody is abandoning the platform.
I have developed a Flash "library" for a web application and I really liked it, but I could never do much in Flash because creating a UI is a pain.
AIR is a great idea, but it would be way better (for me, at least) if they incorporated a decent HTML/CSS rendering engine that had the same potential as the ones we see on modern browsers.
The main problem with it right now is that it feels like it's gone out of favor and everybody is abandoning the platform
I totally agree. I actually dabbled in making AIR apps a few years ago and found it just great. It's really the lack of access to the iOS platform that killed AIR for me.
The closest analog I can think of is ActionScript in Adobe Flash/Air/Flex, but that's not a mast I would lash myself to right now.