Linked by Thom Holwerda on Thu 1st May 2008 12:44 UTC
Just yesterday Mozilla Europe's Tristan Nitot predicted that Adobe might open source Flash one day if competition from Microsoft's Silverlight got too fierce. It seems as if he can look into the future, as today Adobe has announced the Open Screen Project. While not exactly an open source announcement, it does open the door a little bit more.
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Member since:2005-11-10
Member since:2006-02-05
Awesome post steve 
I am curious as to where you stand on the whole mono thing (you usually don't weigh in on those stories). I would usually peg you as mostly a "open source because its practical" type of person. Ignoring the patented bits (ADO, XSP, WinForms, etc), how do you feel about Gtk#/mono apps that only use open source or ECMA standards?
RE[2]: There why of it all
by sbergman27 on Thu 1st May 2008 17:37
in reply to "RE: There why of it all"
Member since:2005-07-24
I am curious as to where you stand on the whole mono thing (you usually don't weigh in on those stories).
Ah, the Mono thing. I think of it a lot like I do Samba. I deeply wish that we did not need it, but I thank the gods that we have it. I'm glad it is there as a bridge for .net programmers and for applications compatibility, just as I am glad that Samba is there to allow us to have a strong file server offering for networks of Windows clients. But I strongly prefer not to see Mono used by existing members of our FOSS community for new projects. In particular, I strongly oppose its use for infrastructure.
Despite all the nonaggression assurances and C# standardization, I do not trust MS on this. Ecmascript is a standard, too, and MS's ubiquitous, but incompatible implementation of it is probably the single most significant thing tying my users to Crossover Office and IE, and sometimes even to Windows itself. (Mercifully, I, myself have no need for it for my daily work.)
I don't manage photographs or require post-it notes with advanced features. I find Beagle to be slow, buggy, and very prone to going off into infinite loops when I actually try to use it for anything useful. The Tracker guys started much later, programming in plain old 'C' and have a better product, even without the backing of a major corp like Novell. (This is where people usually remind me that Novell only allocated 1-3 guys to the project, and where I remind them back that the format conversion programs are third party and that the core of Beagle was handed to them on a silver platter in the form of Apache Lucene, which they had only to port from Java.)
Mono is also a bit of a memory hog. (Opinions vary as to the significance of that.)
Thus, based upon the available empirical evidence, I am unimpressed and completely unconvinced as to the programmer productivity advantages claimed by advocates of Mono. And given the open source availability of Java, I feel that it fits that niche better than Mono for FOSS apps.
I, personally, am a fan of Python, but recognize that Python is not right for every occasion. And that is where I feel Java should pick up. For system stuff, C and C++, of course.
One other thing. And I should say that I realize that this is a bit irrational of me, but it's also a very real feeling. Seeing executables listed in 'ps' and 'top' that end in ".exe" and having libraries on my machines that end in .dll makes me sick. I only include that information because I believe that, as human beings, we cannot avoid bias. The best that we can hope for is to be honest about those biases with ourselves and others. It adds a bit of useful context to my post.
Edited 2008-05-01 17:47 UTC
Member since:2005-11-21
RE[2]: There why of it all
by lemur2 on Fri 2nd May 2008 01:05
in reply to "RE: There why of it all"
Member since:2007-02-17
Perhaps they want the FOSS Community to do the 64 bit Linux port.
Adobe's code is not being opened here ... just the formats.
BTW, there is already a 64-bit implementation of Flash for Linux:
http://www.gnu.org/software/gnash/
Just compile it with the correct switches.
Any 64-bit Linux distribution should already have done this for you, available in its repositories.
Member since:
2005-07-24
The FAQ has some good questions.
http://www.adobe.com/openscreenproject/faq/
Allow me help them answer a few of them:
What is the Open Screen Project?
The Open Screen Project is our desperate attempt to preserve our market share in the face of almost certain doom. Microsoft has expressed an interest in helping users enjoy a rich multimedia experience on line, and we know that means we're toast. Think of us as the woman in the horror film who runs 5 steps and then falls down before the ear piercing scream and the camera going black.
What is the mission of the Open Screen Project?
To save our asses. Acknowledging long tradition, we understand that Open Source is where dying companies go to die. Like the cancer victim who denies his condition and refuses to seek medical assistance until it is too late, we have held out on opening our formats until after our fate was already sealed, thus ensuring a lot of hype, followed by bad publicity for Open Source when we fail.
What is Adobe doing in support of the Open Screen Project?
We have set up a web site and issued a press release.
Why is Adobe spearheading this project?
Why does the woman from question #1 still struggle and try to push the monster away, even after it is clear that she's worm food in training?
Why are companies participating in the Open Screen Project?
We're turning on the hype faucets full blast, calling in a bunch of favors, and are paying some of them under the table to appear to be interested.
Is the Open Screen Project a technology announcement?
No. The Open Screen Project is a function of our PR department.
Why is Adobe continuing to open access to Flash technology?
What else can we do?
What other open efforts does Adobe participate in?
Does throwing Dmitry Sklyarov in jail for a month, and detaining him in a foreign country for 4 months, by invoking the DMCA count?
Edited 2008-05-01 13:49 UTC