Open Source, cross-platform application framework for easily building and maintaining Flash®-based applications across all major browsers, desktops and devices, including smartphones, tablets and television.

Forest Hill, MD –-14 January 2013-– The Apache Software Foundation (ASF), the all-volunteer developers, stewards, and incubators of nearly 150 Open Source projects and initiatives, today announced that Apache Flex has graduated from the Apache Incubator to become a Top-Level Project (TLP), signifying that the Project's community and products have been well-governed under the ASF's meritocratic process and principles.

"Being a TLP demonstrates Apache Flex's commitment to 'The Apache Way' and the project's ability to self-govern, and be a part of the broader ASF community,” said Alex Harui, Vice President of Apache Flex.

Formerly Adobe Flex, the project originated at Macromedia prior to its acquisition by Adobe Systems Inc. (ADBE), and was submitted to the Apache Incubator in 2011.

Flex is an Open Source software development kit (SDK) for the building and deploying cross-platform rich Internet applications based on the Adobe Flash platform. The Flex framework allows expressive Web applications to deploy consistently on all major browsers, desktops and devices (including smartphones, tablets and TV). In addition, Apache Flex provides a modern, standards-based language and programming model that supports common design patterns suitable for developers from many backgrounds. Flex applications can be deployed to the ubiquitous Adobe® Flash® Player in the browser, Adobe® AIR™ on desktop and mobile or to native Android™, iOS™, QNX®, Windows® or Mac® applications.

Announcing Apache Flex v4.9

The Project also announced the availability of version 4.9 of the Apache Flex application framework. Apache Flex 4.9 and the Apache Flex SDK Installer 2.0 consist of a software development kit (SDK), a compiler, and automated testing tools.

"The Apache Flex SDK Installer increases software developer productivity by reducing the amount of time spent configuring utilities and components needed to make the SDK work with an IDE," said OmPrakash Muppirala, release manager for the Apache Flex SDK Installer.

The Apache Flex 4.9 SDK allows application developers to build expressive web and mobile applications using MXML for layout and ActionScript 3, an ECMAScript based language for client-side scripting.

The v4.9 release contains several important bug fixes, including improved internationalization support (including new locales), added support and enhancements. Highlights include:

  • New localizations for Australian, British, Canadian, Greek, Switzerland (German) and Portuguese
  • The SDK can be compiled to work with Flash Player versions 10.2 through 11.5
  • Better support for Vectors, including new VectorList and VectorCollection classes
  • Inclusion of the new PostalCodeFormatter and PostalCodeValidator components for more consistent internationalization was made
  • The TLF (Text Layout Framework) was updated to version 3.0.33, and is now included in the SDK (there is no additional step required to download it separately)
  • Support for Java 7 for compiling the SDK
  • Many bug fixes, and other enhancements were included

Many volunteers dedicated to the framework and the wider Flex community made contributions to both the SDK and the Installer.

"We are excited to continue working to develop the Apache Flex Software Development Kit, Installer, Mustella Testing Framework, and 'Falcon' Compiler to allow people to build better applications with better developer productivity," explained Harui.

For more information, see the release notes at http://www.apache.org/dyn/closer.cgi/flex/4.9.0/RELEASE_NOTES.

"Code has been donated but our work isn’t complete to include better support for Maven and better parity between mx and spark components," Harui added. "The work on next release of Apache Flex is already underway. Stay tuned!"

Catch Apache Flex in action at ApacheCon 24 February-2 March 2013 and gain hands-on knowledge on how to use and create real world applications as presented by Apache Flex 4.9 SDK release manager Justin Mclean. For more information and to register, visit http://na.apachecon.com/.

Availability and Oversight

Apache Flex software is released under the Apache License v2.0, and is overseen by a self-selected team of active contributors to the project. A Project Management Committee (PMC) guides the Project's day-to-day operations, including community development and product releases. Apache Flex source code, documentation, mailing lists, and related resources are available at http://flex.apache.org/.

About the Apache Incubator

The Apache Incubator is the entry path for projects and codebases wishing to become part of the efforts at The Apache Software Foundation. All code donations from external organizations and existing external projects wishing to join the ASF enter through the Incubator to: 1) ensure all donations are in accordance with the ASF legal standards; and 2) develop new communities that adhere to our guiding principles. Incubation is required of all newly accepted projects until a further review indicates that the infrastructure, communications, and decision making process have stabilized in a manner consistent with other successful ASF projects. While incubation status is not necessarily a reflection of the completeness or stability of the code, it does indicate that the project has yet to be fully endorsed by the ASF. For more information, visit http://incubator.apache.org/.

About The Apache Software Foundation (ASF)

Established in 1999, the all-volunteer Foundation oversees nearly one hundred fifty leading Open Source projects, including Apache HTTP Server — the world's most popular Web server software. Through the ASF's meritocratic process known as "The Apache Way", more than 400 individual Members and 3,500 Committers successfully collaborate to develop freely available enterprise-grade software, benefiting millions of users worldwide: thousands of software solutions are distributed under the Apache License; and the community actively participates in ASF mailing lists, mentoring initiatives, and ApacheCon, the Foundation's official user conference, trainings, and expo. The ASF is a US 501(3)(c) not-for-profit charity, funded by individual donations and corporate sponsors including AMD, Basis Technology, Citrix, Cloudera, Facebook, Go Daddy, Google, HP, Hortonworks, Huawei, IBM, InMotion Hosting, Matt Mullenweg, Microsoft, PSW Group, SpringSource/VMware,  WANdisco, and Yahoo!. For more information, visit http://www.apache.org/ or follow @TheASF on Twitter.

"Apache", "Flex", "Apache Flex", and "ApacheCon" are trademarks of The Apache Software Foundation. All other brands and trademarks are the property of their respective owners.

#  #  #