Fresh off joining the Linux Foundation and extending its support for Flash Player and AIR runtime software to Linux, Adobe is heading up a new collaborative project to ease development and design of rich applications on a variety of devices from PCs and TVs to mobile devices and other consumer electronics. The Open Screen Project is being supported by Adobe and a cavalcade of other big vendors in hardware, networking and devices (ARM, Intel, Cisco, Motorola, Nokia, NTT DoCoMo, Sony Ericsson, Toshiba and Verizon Wireless among them) as well as video giants including MTV Networks and NBC Universal.

That’s pretty broad, significant support, and even though it’s not actually an open source project, Open Screen is intended as a collaborative effort to offset fragmentation with a common runtime technology that crosses OS, device, vendor and screen. For its part, Adobe will open up access to its Flash by removing restrictions on the video software’s specifications, publishing protocols and device porting layer APIs and lifting license fees so the next major releases of Flash Player and AIR runtime environment will be free.

The Adobe work to support Linux, open source and more broadly and consistently address different devices and deployments of its Flash, Flex framework, AIR and other rich application software highlights the progress and potential for open source in mainstream devices. Even if Adobe’s Flash may be something iPhone seller Apple doesn’t want, the software, its vendor and the rest of the world seem to be opening up for the better.