Adobe Opens Up Flash Specifications

Adobe has this morning announced the Open Screen Project. The Open Screen Project is actually open and is designed to push consistent rich Internet experiences across a plethora of devices and varying screens. Behind Adobe in this move is Intel, LG Electronics, and Motorola, to just name a few. The open part of this project, however, is that Adobe will now be distributing freely the specifications to SWF and FLV/F4V specifications. Previously developers had to sign an agreement with Adobe and for other aspects of Flash there were also royalties if used on mobile devices. Further opening up Flash, Adobe will be republishing the device porting layer APIs of Flash, publishing the protocols for Adobe Flash Cast and AMF, and removing the licensing fees for future versions of Adobe Flash and AIR.

While they are making the specifications available, the official Flash Player will remain closed-source. These specifications, however, should be able to greatly help open-source projects like GNASH and swfdec.