Adobe gives Flash Player source to Mozilla

Linc

Adobe has hung its hat on Mozilla and its Firefox browser, turning over its Flash Player's code to the Open Source community.

There's a developing standard called "ECMAScript Edition 4" that is the basis for ActionScript (used in Flash) as well as Javascript and Microsoft's Jscript. Mozilla is going to condense development for this standard into a project known as "Tamarin" which will develop the final version of the standard. Mozilla will then incorporate the "new" standard into the next version of "SpiderMonkey", the scripting engine inside Firefox.

Why is all this relevant? It means two of the three major scripting players have gotten together to make a better standard, and it bears observing who the odd-man out on this one is.

“There is nothing better for a standard than to have it implemented in multiple products,” said Jan van den Beld, Secretary General, Ecma International. “Adobe is taking a huge step forward in driving standards-based Web development by open source licensing their virtual machine technology.”

A very bold and welcome move by Adobe, but one that seems ultimately motivated by self-interest. If it can formally make the engine for its Flash product a web standard, it not only solidifies its position on the web of the future, but heads off any more attempts by Microsoft to arm-wrestle the industry into its closed standards.

I'll chalk this up as a point for Open Source and open standards.

Source: Mozilla's Press Release

airbornflght

nice. Though adobe is most certainly motivated by their self interests, who isn't? I think that the benefit will be mutal between them, as well as give adobe and mozilla a fighting chance.

drasnor

Long overdue. Hello Flash on AMD64!

-drasnor

deepsea

As long as disabling Flash is still an option. Bandwidth hogging adverts are fine, as long as they have an off switch.