Adobe surprised me today with a step on what I believe is the right way: they opened the tech specs for SWF and FLV formats.

As Flash’s popularity grew on the online world, this was somehow required. A single company just can’t keep up to the Internet’s speed of motion. More and more devices are built with faster connections and bigger, better screens, which strive for rich content.

Now, having access to the way Flash works, Open Source projects such as Gnash will be able to evolve faster and better. New clients for all sorts of devices can be built without the effort of hacking a closed format.

Good job, Adobe!

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