Adobe AIR. The More Things Change?

Erm ... Call me old fashioned but, apart from the implementation details such as AJAX, Flash, and yadda, yadda, isn't Adobe AIR like totally how the user interface worked prior to Netscape? Say, America Online circa 1992? I think it was called a client-side application. What am I missing here? Oh, I get it! Web 2.0 eliminates the marketing compulsion to put CDs in your airline food.