Adobe's "Open Screen" project

Today Adobe announced the Open Screen project. I won't rehash the entire announcement here, but two key takeaways are:

1. Adobe is removing licensing restrictions from and opening up the Flash SWF and Flash Video FLV/FW4 specifications.

2. Adobe will provide the Flash Player and Adobe AIR free for makers of consumer electronic devices such as cell phones.

What does this mean to you, if you are designer who is (today) working mostly in print? As I've been telling participants in my training seminars recently, don't think of yourself as a "print designer" anymore. Yes, the bulk of your work this week may be printed on dead trees, but it is clear that more and more content is moving to other media. What that media will be 1,3, 5 or 10 years down the road no one knows for sure. But today's announcement by Adobe indicates that they want Flash and AIR to be a part of this future. I've also been preaching to whoever will listen that print designers should try to learn as much as they can about Acrobat, Flash and eBooks in the upcoming months, as these tools provide the foundation for the natural progression of print "pages" to other media.

I think we're in for a wild ride for the next few years!