I almost laughed when I read this article by Adrian Ludwig on the Flash Platform Blog.
Apparently, Adobe, or one of its developers at least, thinks that the argument “Flash technology isn’t open” is not valid for the following reason:
The Flash file format specifications are open and unrestricted, so Apple can build their own Flash Player if they want. If Apple wants the source code to the Flash Player, we’re happy to provide it, just as we have to many other device manufacturers.
First of all, the Flash file format specifications are open and unrestricted, yes, so they get that. But a specification only goes a certain way and it’s often used as a lame excuse to pass by as “standard” or “open source”, which clearly it isn’t. Microsoft does the same with the OOXML format for Office, amongst other things, but in reality it’s just an excuse for making Office less proprietary than it already is. What’s good if the rest of the software is proprietary…
Apple can build their own Flash player, yes, indeed. And so does the open source community with projects that have miserably failed to achieve real compatible Flash engines because the format wasn’t truly open yet. It is now, but Flash Player itself isn’t.
What’s funny is Adobe says “If Apple wants the source code to the Flash Player, we’re happy to provide it, just as we have to many other device manufacturers”. Does this mean you don’t provide the Flash player source code to the community, because all reports show it’s not open source. That’s yet some other BS to pass by as an open project.
And about that “openness”, it really isn’t because the specification belongs to Adobe. Real open projects don’t just get to have open source implementations, they get to allow everyone to participate in developing it. That’s not what Flash is; Flash is a closed ecosystem where the only entity who get’s a choice at what you can do with it is Adobe.
This also goes for OOXML and Silverlight. It’s not open, it just tries to hide under an open umbrella. Java, on the other hand, for example, is truly open. The JCP, or Java Community Process, allows anyone to participate in the spec, so Java is a public decision matter, and Oracle has recently voiced itself as dedicated to pushing the JCP process beyond what Sun did (Oracle recently bought Sun) to make it even more accessible to smaller contributors, making Java technology a real open standard effort.
Open technology needs to belong to the public for the greater good, not to a company. Make no mistake, the Adobe Flash Platform is not open.
