Raju, I was at the Flex Summit that Peter blogged about. At the pre-summit briefing I attended, Danny Winokur, the VP who hosted the meeting, said that as of last Monday, Adobe was still selling new support contracts for Adobe Flex 4.6 and I believe he said that during the summit as well. Danny also said Adobe does not plan to offer support contracts for Apache Flex.
I did notice that Peter's blog was incorrect on this point. Carol -----Original Message----- From: Raju Bitter <rajubit...@googlemail.com> Reply-To: "rajubit...@gmail.com" <rajubit...@gmail.com> Date: Tue, 20 Dec 2011 14:31:58 -0800 To: Adobe Systems <cfram...@adobe.com> Cc: "general@incubator.apache.org" <general@incubator.apache.org> Subject: Re: [PROPOSAL] Flex for Apache Incubator >Thanks for that information, Carol! > >Based on this blog post on the Flex Summit it sounded like the company >made an announcement on support contracts there: >http://www.peterelst.com/blog/2011/12/13/flex-summit-updates-on-the-open-s >ource-strategy-and-runtimes/ > >Thanks again, >Raju > >2011/12/20 Carol Frampton <cfram...@adobe.com>: >> Raju, >> >> I believe Adobe is selling support contracts for Adobe Flex version 4.6. >> >> Apache Flex, although initially the same codebase as Adobe Flex 4.6, >>would >> be a different product. The community can take it in whatever direction >> it would like to go. >> >> Carol >> >> -----Original Message----- >> From: Raju Bitter <rajubit...@googlemail.com> >> Reply-To: "rajubit...@gmail.com" <rajubit...@gmail.com> >> Date: Tue, 20 Dec 2011 13:49:13 -0800 >> To: "general@incubator.apache.org" <general@incubator.apache.org> >> Subject: Re: [PROPOSAL] Flex for Apache Incubator >> >>>Thanks for the quick response, Greg! >>> >>>On 12/20/11 9:37 PM, Greg Stein wrote: >>>> On Tue, Dec 20, 2011 at 15:30, Raju Bitter<rajubit...@googlemail.com> >>>>wrote: >>>>> ... >>>>> 2) Action Script Virtual Machine (AVM) >>>>> In November 2006 Adobe open source the Flash Player Script engine: >>>>> http://www.mozilla.org/en-US/press/mozilla-2006-11-07.html >>>>> Is the source code of Tamarin still the current version of the Action >>>>>Script >>>>> Virtual Machine in Flash Player 11? If there is a new version of the >>>>>AVM >>>>> (2+), will that be contributed to the Apache Software Foundation as >>>>>well? >>>>> >>>>> It doesn't really make sense to only contribute a compiler, if there >>>>>is no >>>>> open source implementation of a runtime/scripting engine available, >>>>>but that >>>>> might only be my personal view. If the community would decide to >>>>>create a an >>>>> open standards based runtime for Flex, would that mean the community >>>>>would >>>>> have to start from zero? >>>> >>>> I think that's just your personal view :-) >>>That's true, but still would be good to have an open source, up-to-date >>>scripting engine for ActionScript bytecode to enable other future >>>runtimes (imagine running the same ActionScript 3 code in the client and >>>on the server, like node.js). Therefore it would be very valuable to >>>know if Tamarin is still compatible with the scripting engine Flash >>>Player 11. >>> >>>> There is a ton of open source code written to work against Oracle's >>>> RDBMS, or Windows' .NET runtime, or Apple's iOS. I see no problem with >>>> Apache Flex targeting a proprietary environment. >>>I'm not sure which projects you are talking about: .NET runtime should >>>be compatible to Mono, >>> >>>>> 3) Commercial support for Apache Flex >>>>> Does Adobe plan to offer support for an Apache Flex product? If yes, >>>>>what >>>>> kind of support would be planned. I read somewhere that Adobe will >>>>>not >>>>>offer >>>>> any support for Flex 4.6+ to new customers, but I'm not sure, if >>>>>that's >>>>> still the current plan. >>>> >>>> I think this is orthogonal/unrelated to the Apache Flex proposal. >>>I think it is related to the proposal. If Adobe has binding contracts >>>for future versions of Flex, and the Apache community would decide to >>>change Apache Flex 4.7 implementation details, Adobe might be forced to >>>fork the project for customers. How would that work? >>> >>>>> 4) Flash Player >>>>> Are there any plans to open source a stripped-down version of Flash >>>>>Player, >>>>> e.g. the discontinued version of Flash Player for mobile) in the >>>>>future >>>>> (similar to the pure open source Flex SDK vs. the commercial SDK)? >>>>>The >>>>> Apache community could continue working on a browser-based mobile >>>>>runtime >>>>> for Apache Flex, if that was the case. >>>> >>>> Likewise. >>>Isn't it a valid question to ask which runtimes will be available for a >>>a framework with compiler? To be technically correct, Flex applications >>>WON'T run in mobile browsers without a Flash Player (which means you >>>won't see a Flex application on iOS). You CAN compile a Flex application >>>into a mobile application using the Adobe AIR SDK and the Adobe AIR >>>player. The proposal mentions rich Internet applications running in >>>desktop and mobile browsers. Elsewhere iOS is mentioned. As we all know, >>>Flash applications (SWF files) cannot be rendered in iOS browser. >>>Therefore the question if there will be a way run mobile Flex >>>applications in mobile browsers as rich Internet applications (versus >>>native apps) is very valid in my eyes. >>> >>>> >>>>> I hope I don't sound to skeptical here, but Adobe Flex is quite >>>>>different >>>>> from most Apache projects I've been in contact with. It's a powerful >>>>> compiler with an interesting language, but it looks like the output >>>>>of >>>>>the >>>>> compiler can only be used with Adobe-owned proprietary software at >>>>>the >>>>> moment. >>>> >>>> As I mentioned above, I don't see this as a problem whatsoever. And >>>> even if *some* people have a problem with it, there is a huge >>>> committer list of people who obviously have zero problem with that >>>> fact. The Foundation is here to provide support to communities, rather >>>> than block them on philosophical rationales. (IMO :-) So if a >>>> community wants to build up around Apache Flex, then we do what we can >>>> to help them. >>>I've been using Flash for the past 8 years in projects, organized Flex >>>User Group meetings, co-organized events with Adobe. I have a good >>>understanding of what Flash, ActionScript and AIR are capable off, how >>>many people are using Flash, how useful it can be. >>> >>>But none of the companies offering RIA related products and players in >>>the past 7 years (Adobe, Microsoft, Sun, Oracle, to name the big ones) >>>has not been affected by strategy changes of the management, often >>>leaving developers and clients in positions which were less optimal. >>>(Adobe Flex 1.5 -> 2.0 changes, differences in Silverlight APIs with >>>major version upgrades, Sun/Oracle dumping JavaFX Script, Microsoft's >>>decision to favor HTML5 over Silverlight). >>> >>>Adobe decided to discontinue development of Flash Player for mobile >>>devices and smart TVs (it's a company decision, we have to respect >>>that, but it wasn't easy for large number of people to hear those >>>news). If they would decide to discontinue the desktop version of >>>Flash Player, wouldn't it be good if the community would have an >>>alternative runtime prepared already? I believe it is in the interest >>>of the Apache Flex community to have an alternative runtime for Flex >>>in the not-too-far future, and if Adobe would express support of that >>>goal , it would be very valuable. >>> >>>The proposal might have a sentence saying: "Adobe will provide the >>>Apache community with the technical information needed to develop >>>additional runtimes for Flex." Would that be acceptable? >>> >>>> Cheers, >>>> -g >>> >>>Thanks again for you comments! >>> >>>Raju >>> >>>> --------------------------------------------------------------------- >>>> To unsubscribe, e-mail: general-unsubscr...@incubator.apache.org >>>> For additional commands, e-mail: general-h...@incubator.apache.org >>>> >>> >> > > > >-- >----------------------------------------------------------------- > >Raju Bitter | Software Architect >cell: +49 (0) 176 322 011 96 >fax: +49 (0) 8821 68 69 08 29 >email: rajubit...@googlemail.com >Germany --------------------------------------------------------------------- To unsubscribe, e-mail: general-unsubscr...@incubator.apache.org For additional commands, e-mail: general-h...@incubator.apache.org
