Adobe Flexes open source muscles

Software giant, Adobe intends to open source its Flex software development kit (SDK), a technology tool designed to provide software developers with a means of creating apps for Flash, Computer Weekly reports.

Adobe says its allegiances in this space will now shift to HTML5. The company identities that the technology landscape for application development is rapidly changing, and customers are demanding direct control over the underlying technologies they use.

Adobe has submitted the code for its Flash-based Flex framework to the Apache Software Foundation (ASF) to be managed as an independent project, Computer World states.

The open source software body has not commented on whether it will agree to manage the technology's development. If it does, however, it may not be long before Flex becomes an Apache project.

Should the ASF agree to take the technology, the roadmap will be managed by an independent governing body operating under Apache's bylaws.

The news comes a week after Adobe revealed it will no longer be developing the Flash multimedia platform for use on mobile devices. The announcement was seen as a vindication of the late Apple CEO Steve Jobs' antipathy towards Flash, Information Age says.