This is the only move Adobe can make.
Silverlight is being proliferated by MS leveraging their desktop monopoly.
Good move on Adobe's part although the article fails to mention which "open source license will be used. The term "open source" can be construed to mean just about anything these days.
Adobe open sources Flash platforms
Summary
Adobe has announced that it has open sourced two of its Flash player platforms. Adobe's core technologies will remain proprietary.
Topics
Adobe has announced that it has open sourced two of its Flash player platforms. Adobe's core technologies will remain proprietary.
On Tuesday Adobe launched the Open Source Media Framework (OSMF), a rich media player platform. OSMF was previously part of a project codenamed Strobe.
Adobe also open sourced the Text Layout Framework (TLF), a typography platform for web apps.
"Adobe is committed to providing core Flash platform technologies to the community as open source," said Dave McAllister, director of standards and open source at Adobe, in a statement. "By releasing OSMF and TLF as open source, we are helping facilitate the creation and sharing of best practices for media players and rich text-based web application development."
Adobe announced that it was collaborating with content and application delivery company Akamai on the Open Video Player initiative, which was founded by Akamai. The two companies will also collaborate on OSMF.
Adobe Flash is in direct competition with Microsoft's Silverlight rich-media technology. Microsoft launched Silverlight 3 earlier this month.
Silverlight is based on .NET -- the open source implementation of .NET is Mono. Microsoft has assisted Mono development. The open source version of Silverlight is called Moonlight, which is based on Mono, and sponsored by Novell. Moonlight enables Silverlight content to run on Linux.
This article was originally posted on ZDNet UK.
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Adobe uses a small set of open source licenses on our technologies.
Much of our source code is available under MPL v1.1 (relating to the
initial donation of the Tamarin code to Mozilla). A substantial amount is
under either MIT/X or BSD. A very small set is under an LGPL license.
Currently, your best source is http;//opensource.adobe.com
additionally, we have published the specification for the Flash platform
formats for open use. (Use them as you want). SWF, FLV/F4V, AMF, MCD.
davemc
Much of our source code is available under MPL v1.1 (relating to the
initial donation of the Tamarin code to Mozilla). A substantial amount is
under either MIT/X or BSD. A very small set is under an LGPL license.
Currently, your best source is http;//opensource.adobe.com
additionally, we have published the specification for the Flash platform
formats for open use. (Use them as you want). SWF, FLV/F4V, AMF, MCD.
davemc
Would we see a shift of people from Flash to Flex in order to develop the same thing? NO. Flex is more of a programming too than a visual builder.
The Flex SDK is a free open source framework. The Flash Builder (formerly Flex Builder) costs money but there are free tools out there. Flash Builder and Flash CS4 IDE both compile down to Flash Player file.
This is the best move they can make for the community. As a developer I believe you need to set the foundation but after that you should allow customizations. Good job guys! 
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