Over on the [email protected] list, there is tons of activity on removing Flash as a dependency.
On 1/28/13 12:46 AM, "Michael Montoya" <[email protected]> wrote: > As the feedback to the Linux question grows, it highlights for me a glaring > flaw in the Apache Flex project; and this is the inherent conflict of > interest between the stated aims of the open-source community and the > for-profit model espoused by proprietary technology. While there is nothing > inherently wrong with either model, I think that when it comes to open-source > technology, it should be an all-or nothing proposition. > > Adobe has effectively given the open source community the keys to the car but > kept control of the engine to itself (i.e. the AIR runtime and the Flash > Player). This means that at Adobe's whim, as the political winds have already > shown it capable of, it can invalidate all the efforts of the open source > community in favor of some alternate avenue were the potential returns worth > the expense of inciting the community's ire. Where profit is concerned, never > think that the unthinkable won't be done - we have lately seen many such > poignant pyrotechnic displays of large companies "nuking" each other for > dominance over the mobile space... (insert name of large publicly traded > company here). > > As developers, sure we're concerned about earning our paychecks, but if profit > were our only motive we'd all be investment bankers - no, we want to build new > tools to make people wonder and delight, to eliminate the drudgery of the old > way of doing things, to innovate and dream up new ways of overcoming hurdles > that have no business in the virtual world... > > To this end, I hate obstacles, and I see Adobe's control over the lynch-pin of > this particular project as a particularly troubling one. I would propose that > Actionscript and, consequently, Flex, target the JVM (or any other comparable > open source engine capable of providing the 2D and 3D graphics context and web > services) and therefore completely sever it's ties to proprietary technology. > So long as the Apache Flex project is a satellite to proprietary technology I > can't place much stock in its long term success and I have reservations about > getting completely behind it. > > If you feel otherwise, I would love to hear your reasoning as to why you feel > its proprietary ties are not really an obstacle to its success. > > This is truly not an attempt to flame, I've been a Flash/Actionscript user > since Flash 2 having made a huge investment in Flash technology and I truly > hope for its continued success as a free, independent venture. My aim is to > engender a high-level dialogue to ensure that Apache Flex is truly charting > the best possible course. > > Best, > Michael Montoya > Lead Front End Developer > Stockpile.com > > On Jan 27, 2013, at 10:36 AM, Brad Neufeld <[email protected]> wrote: > >> When I have completed my current project, I would be happy to test a linux >> distribution as well. It is my preferred environment and I had to setup a >> virtual machine just to run XP and Flex. It would be great to get rid of >> that extra step. >> >> I was never clear what the specific technical hurdles were that Adobe was >> unable to overcome in order to port to Linux, and I hope we do not find out >> that the problem is much more intractable than one might think. >> >> Cheers, >> Brad -- Alex Harui Flex SDK Team Adobe Systems, Inc. http://blogs.adobe.com/aharui
