December 13th, 2007
Adobe responds to Appcelerator with open source BlazeDS
Our own Martin Lamonica reports that Adobe has responded to the announcement of Appcelerator by open sourcing BlazeDS, the messaging software for its Flex development tool.
Observant readers will recall how yesterday Appcelerator CEO Jeff Haynie told us his new GPL development system is aimed squarely at Flex.
Adobe previously said a version of Flex, code-named Moxie, will also go open source, under the Mozilla Public License. That software is still in beta form, according to Adobe’s Web site.
Adobe said in April it will keep Flex Builder, its Eclipse-based development tool, and its Flex Data Services proprietary.
Obviously Adobe is aware of growing open source competition for its development tools and is anxious to hold that competition at bay as long as possible, by open sourcing what elements it must and selling enterprise enhancements.
Flex Data Services, for instance, is server software used to access corporate databases. Not a big deal for small shops, but a necessity for bigger ones.
In its April announcement Jeff Whatcott, a vice president for product marketing at Adobe’s enterprise and developer business unit, told Lamonica open source is “a philosophical requirement” for some people, and called Flex technology mature.
Accommodate when necessary, and sell what you can, seems to be the Adobe motto regarding open source. I doubt these moves would be happening if the pressure from open source were not real.
But they are good to see.
Dana Blankenhorn has been a business journalist for 30 years, a tech freelancer since 1983. You can follow Dana on Twitter. See his full profile and disclosure of his industry affiliations.
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