> I'll take this chance to make a statement of intent: I will not engage nor > answer to threads that basically deal with things that have no real > influence on the immediate future of Flex and how we can bring that to > fruition. Good point, but at the beginning of the project I like to have a clear understanding of what the targets of Apache Flex are, and what parts of the underlying technology are still controlled by Adobe (which means, taken care off by Adobe).
It might not matter to you, but to me the investment into the project is long-term. I'd say that the development approach with ActionScript 3, the XML language for UI layout, and the great IDE integration (powerful IDEs by various vendors) is one of the most powerful packages you can get right now for web development. Adobe has been seeing Flex mainly as a product, which adds to the revenue stream of the company (which is exactly what the company should do). I believe that the conversion into a community-driven open source project offers the chance to create a vision for Flex, which would not have been possible inside Adobe. Therefore - in my eyes - it makes sense to understand how much additional freedom an Apache Flex has (standards used within the framework, trademarks which affect the open source project or underlying technologies, etc.). If you want to turn Apache Flex into a software development team outside Adobe, executing an Adobe roadmap for Flex, well that's not what I'm interested in. Therefore the project - from the start - should show the willingness to improve Flex, but in the long term to reduce the dependency on Adobe. And Adobe would profit from that as well, since the increased credibility of Flex as a technology would help them sell their products as well. Cheers, Raju
