Open at Adobe
What is “open”? It’s a question I’ve been asking for quite a while now and I can’t seem to find a definitive answer.
Dave McAllister (Adobe’s Open Standards Evangelist) actually sums it up nicely: “Open is the currently most misused word in the IT space,” he says. “Open really comes down and says it’s accessible, extensible and can be freely used by anyone. Most companies define open as a single dimensional aspect. For Adobe it’s all aspects of communications and technologies. For us, those are open source, standards and community.”
Check out this video to learn more about the open initiatives at Adobe and just how open the Flash Platform really is.
Today we also released the Open Source Media Framework (formerly known as Strobe) and the Text Layout Framework on our Open Source website.
How to use the new Text Layout Framework
My colleague Mihai Corlan just published an excellent article on how to use the new Text Layout Framework.
The Text Layout Framework (released on Labs) is an extensible library, built on the new text engine in Adobe Flash Player 10 (and also available in AIR 1.5), which delivers advanced, easy-to-integrate typographic and text layout features for rich, sophisticated and innovative typography on the web.
Go check it out on Mihai’s blog.
Weekly blend – The MAX-edition
With so many announcements at MAX (and after), I thought it was a good idea to do a round up of all the cool stuff we announced/showed/released this week.
Alchemy: Alchemy is a research project that allows users to compile C and C++ code that is targeted to run on the open source ActionScript Virtual Machine.
Bolt: Bolt is the code name for a new Eclipse based development tool that you can use to build applications for ColdFusion. Click to sign up for the beta.
Centaur: Centaur is the code name for the next release of ColdFusion. Beta applications are now being accepted. Click for more info.
Cocomo: Cocomo is a Platform as a Service that allows Flex developers to easily add real-time social capabilities into their RIA.
Configurator: Configurator is an open source utility that enables the easy creation of panels (palettes) for use in Photoshop CS4.
Durango: Durango allows developers, designers and end-users to easily mashup independent components to create new applications or extend existing Durango-enabled applications.
Flash Catalyst: Flash Catalyst is a new professional interaction design tool for rapidly creating application interfaces and interactive content without coding.
Genesis: Genesis is the code name for a new product initiative at Adobe with the objective of joining business applications, documents and the web on every knowledge worker’s desktop with integrated collaboration capabilities.
Gumbo: Gumbo is the code name for the next generation of Flex.
InContext Editing: InContext Editing is an online service that allows designers to create, manage, and control editable web pages.
PatchPanel: A first glimpse at combining the dynamic control of ActionScript with the power of Adobe’s Creative Suite.
Pixel Bender 5: An image and video processing infrastructure with runtime optimization on heterogeneous hardware.
Stratus: A new communications protocol called the Real-Time Media Flow Protocol (RTMFP). The most important features of RTMFP include low latency, end-to-end peering capability, security and scalability.
Text Layout Framework: The Text Layout Framework is an extensible library, built on the new text engine in Adobe Flash Player 10, which delivers advanced, easy-to-integrate typographic and text layout features for rich, sophisticated and innovative typography on the web.
Wave: Wave is an Adobe AIR application and Adobe hosted service that work together to enable desktop notifications.
Wow… That should keep you busy for a while ;-)
Feel free to follow me on: 
