Adobe Tuesday aimed two new open source Flash initiatives at media companies and other publishers.

The Open Source Media Framework (OSMF), part of the Strobe project, is meant for building Flash-optimized media players.

The Text Layout Framework (TLF) is supposed to bring sophisticated typography to web applications.

Both are governed by the Mozilla Public License.

OSMF will let developers create playback experiences that leverage plug-ins for advertising, reporting metrics and content delivery along with standard video player features such as playback controls, video navigation, buffering and dynamic streaming.

It includes an API for partners to build plug-ins for value-add services. See www.OpenSourceMediaFramework.com.

OSMF, which can work with any kind of Flash content - video, audio and images - leverages code from Akamai's Open Video Player.

Adobe has thrown in its lot with Akamai and will collaborate on the Akamai-started Open Video Player initiative hoping to wring a Flash-supporting standard out of it. They say their combined efforts will provide all the components for media player development.

Meanwhile, Adobe says TLF goes beyond what is possible for web text layout using HTML and CSS technologies today and supports complex languages, bidirectional text, multi-columns and other advanced typographical features and controls.

TLF is an extensible ActionScript library built on top of the text engine in Adobe's new Flash Player 10 and AIR 1.5 software.

The TLF source code and component library are available at http://opensource.adobe.com/wiki/display/tlf/.

Adobe's newfangled web app Acrobat.com Presentations makes use of TLF.

According to Adobe director of standards and open source Dave McAllister, "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. We believe these efforts will strengthen the industry and lead to the next generation of web applications, content and video experiences."