Adobe Open Screen Project for Flash and AIR
Wow some big news from Adobe. Seems like they’re ready to conquer the rich media world with Flash with this one. What the hell am I talking about? Good question.
It’s called the Open Screen Project.
Long story short, Adobe is opening up the safe on Flash, removing licensing restrictions, fees, and publishing protocols.
So what does this mean you ask? Well, that’s a good question. I’m no marketing or sales expert by any means, but I can tell you that Adobe sure didn’t acquire Macromedia for Fireworks.
Flash is getting huge, mostly due to it’s biggest asset of penetration: video. With sites like YouTube and Myspace, and the billion clones using Flash for video, Adobe has incredible reach across the computer world. This is great news for everyone (except maybe Microsoft, but who uses Silverlight anyways right?) since in the long run, it will mean a better experience for everyone.
Now what is the OSP al about? Well, direct from Adobe’s site:
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The Open Screen Project is working to enable a consistent runtime environment – taking advantage of Adobe® Flash® Player and, in the future, Adobe AIR™ — that will remove barriers for developers and designers as they publish content and applications across desktops and consumer devices, including phones, mobile internet devices (MIDs), and set top boxes. The Open Screen Project will address potential technology fragmentation by allowing the runtime technology to be updated seamlessly over the air on mobile devices. The consistent runtime environment will provide optimal performance across a variety of operating systems and devices, and ultimately provide the best experience to consumers.
Specifically, this work will include:
- Removing restrictions on use of the SWF and FLV/F4V specifications
- Publishing the device porting layer APIs for Adobe Flash Player
- Publishing the Adobe Flash® Cast™ protocol and the AMF protocol for robust data services
- Removing licensing fees – making next major releases of Adobe Flash Player and Adobe AIR for devices free
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Wow, that’s a pretty big announcement. It’s really going to take Flash to so many platforms, and enable us developers to create content that reaches so many more people.
It’s not a small initiative either; there’s a lot of big names up on that list (no Apple? C’mon iPhone and Flash, we’re al waiting). I am a bit skeptical though, as this is not a short term goal. This is going to take YEARS to get done I’d imagine, since the amount of the devices and platforms involved are potentially infinite.
Even if their ultimate goal isn’t reached (I’m sure they’ll do a pretty damned good job though), this creates a whole new slew of Open Source opportunities, which can only mean good news us.
What do you guys think? Is this more of a dream, or do you think it’s actually possible?