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From: "Michael A. Labriola" <labriola@digitalprimates.net>
To: "flex-dev@incubator.apache.org" <flex-dev@incubator.apache.org>
Subject: RE: Can Adobe kill Apache Flex
Thread-Topic: Can Adobe kill Apache Flex
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Date: Tue, 21 Feb 2012 20:49:08 +0000
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>thanks for the input, let me put it another way. Adobe can change the runt=
ime anytime they want. They have not made the runtime code accessible to th=
e Apache >Flex project. Its within the realm of possibility that they can c=
hange something in the runtime that breaks for example current Flex
>4.6 apps. Since you don't have the runtime code accessible how will you go=
 about fixing the issue.

So, yes, they could decide that when the runtime starts up that it will no =
longer run any code. That is their choice as they own the runtime. Doing so=
 though is not in their or anyone else's best interest and doesn't make muc=
h sense. Doing so would not only break all Flex projects currently deployed=
 in the world but also likely all content created in Flash or ActionScript =
projects. It is worth noting that Adobe said they would test future version=
 of the Flash Player and AIR against Flex 4.6. That does give us a baseline

I think the best predictor of future behavior is the past. Flash has always=
 strived to be backward compatible with code written long ago. When major c=
hanges were made to the Flash runtime, they actually create a whole new vir=
tual machine so that the original code would continue to work forever more.=
 If I had to guess, that's what we will eventually see here. My 2 cents. Pe=
rsonally that isn't what keeps me up at night, it's a losing proposition fo=
r Adobe to make such a change.

More scary is the prospect of Apple and Microsoft changing licensing to dis=
allow things like AIR and Flash Player. This is not in any way likely. Appl=
e tried it. It didn't go well, just saying this would be more of a fear tha=
n the other items.

>And I have not played with Java for a while. I know there's an open JDK .
>Isnt' the Java runtime open sourced as well ?

The Java runtime is under an open source license, but it is controlled in a=
 proprietary fashion... much the way Flex was previously. It is useful to k=
now that the format for SWF is also available and open. Further, the core v=
irtual machine for the Flash Player is available as part of the tamarin pro=
ject under Mozilla, so, much like an open JDK, it is possible to write our =
own Flash Player.... please know this is not a suggestion.

Mike