Adobe to Open Source Flex

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Adobe plans to release source code for Adobe Flex as open source. This initiative will let developers worldwide participate in the growth of the advanced framework for building cross-operating system rich Internet applications for the Web and enabling new Apollo applications for the desktop. The open source Flex SDK and documentation will be available under the Mozilla Public License.

Available since June 2006, the free Adobe Flex SDK includes the technologies developers need to build effective Flex applications, including the MXML compiler and the ActionScript 3.0 libraries that make up the popular Flex framework. Together, these elements provide the modern, standards-based language and programming model used by leading businesses such as BMC Software, eBay, salesforce.com, Scrapblog, and Samsung to create RIAs deployed on the ubiquitous Adobe Flash Player.

This announcement expands on Adobe's commitment to open technology initiatives, including the contribution of source code for the ActionScript Virtual Machine to the Mozilla Foundation under the Tamarin project, the use of the open source WebKit engine in the "Apollo" project, and the release of the full PDF 1.7 specification for ISO standardization. By committing to releasing Flex source code to developers as open source, Adobe is embracing collaboration with the worldwide developer community and enabling other open source projects to take full advantage of the capabilities of the Flex framework.

Using the MPL for open sourcing Flex will allow full and free access to source code. Developers will be able to freely download, extend, and contribute to the source code for the Flex compiler, components and application framework. Adobe also will continue to make the Flex SDK and other Flex products available under their existing commercial licenses, allowing both new and existing partners and customers to choose the license terms that best suit their requirements.

The open source licensing of Flex is part of an initiative to engage the community in the creation of Flex technology. Starting this summer with the pre-release versions of the next release of the Flex product line, code named "Moxie", Adobe will post daily software builds of the Flex SDK on a public download site with a public bug database. The release of open source Flex under the MPL will occur in conjunction with the final release of Moxie, currently scheduled for the second half of 2007.

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