Adobe open Flash

The Open Screen Project from Adobe will:

  • 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

Two potential advances come to mind:

  1. We should be able to get at the spec, and (some people might be able to) create tools for testing and improving the accessibility of flash instances.
    However, this hasn’t happened for PDF, so I won’t hold my breath on this one.
  2. It might clear the way for being included on the iPhone. Although performance issues are the probable cause of it’s exclusion so far, if Apple can create their own version of the player, they may be able to get around that.

The actual project is at adobe.com/openscreenproject/.