Adobe Open Screen Project opens door for even more Flash
Just in case you think Adobe's Flash Player (which powers YouTube and an enormous number of other sites) isn't ubiquitous enough, Adobe is pushing for even greater adoption from developers and designers.
Context & Ripple Effects
Adobe had already signaled an effort to become more open in its push to come in from the cold, while Flash was being extended into communications through VoIP-related use. The Open Screen Project turns that broader-platform posture into an adoption campaign aimed at developers and designers.
Flash's reach on video sites such as YouTube gives Adobe a large installed base to protect; the project matters because it seeks to make that reach easier to carry across more screens rather than leave Flash confined to familiar web use.
First-order effects
- Adobe gives developers and designers a clearer route to deploy Flash across more screen types, strengthening Flash Player's value as a common runtime.
- Sites and services built around Flash, including YouTube's video experience, gain an incentive to preserve Flash-based delivery as Adobe works to broaden its reach.
Second-order effects
- Competing rich-media technologies must offer developers comparable cross-screen reach or lower implementation friction to displace Flash in new projects.
- Adobe's developer tools become more strategically tied to Flash adoption: wider deployment creates a larger audience for designers and developers using Adobe's ecosystem.
Third-order effects
- If Adobe can pair wider access with broad implementation, rich-media software may consolidate around a nominally open platform whose runtime and tools remain central to one vendor.
- The move is an early example of an open-commons chokepoint: reducing adoption barriers can expand a shared layer while concentrating influence over the surrounding platform.
The trend: Adobe is pursuing platform expansion by making Flash easier to deploy across screens, using openness to reinforce the reach of its runtime and development ecosystem.