Adobe Systems has donated the source code behind its
Flash Player to the open source Mozilla Foundation.
The software firm has contributed the source code for
ActionScript Virtual Machine, the standards-based scripting
language engine used in Flash Player, to Mozilla to support a new
open source project, dubbed Tamarin.
Mozilla chief technology officer Brendan Eich said Adobe’s work
on the new virtual machine was “the largest contribution to the
Mozilla Foundation since its inception”.
He added, “Now web developers have a high-performance, open
source virtual machine for building and deploying interactive
applications across both Adobe Flash Player and the Firefox web
browser. We are excited about joining the Adobe and Mozilla
communities to advance ECMAScript.”
The Tamarin project aims to speed development of a
standards-based approach to creating web applications. It will
implement the final version of the ECMAScript Edition 4 standard
language, which Mozilla will use in the next generation of
SpiderMonkey, the JavaScript engine embedded in Mozilla’s Firefox
web browser.
Contributions to the code will be managed by a governing body of
developers from both Adobe and Mozilla.
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