The announcement of  the Apache Flex SDK Installer 1.0 as an "incubating release" signals that Flex, which was formerly Adobe's framework for cross-platform rich Internet applications based on Flash, lives on as an open source project.

A year ago, in November 2011, Adobe announced that Flex was to be spun off as an open source project. The following month it was accepted into the Apache Incubator.

The final Adobe release of Flex was Version 4.6.0 in December 2011, and in July 2012 the first release of Apache Flex was made.

All new projects in Apache go through an incubation phase where they are brought in line with the "The Apache Way"  to conform with the standards set by the Apache Software Foundation. So, Apache Flex4.8.0 was a "parity" release with 4.6.0 with no new features or bug fixes.

Now the Flex team has announced the release of the Apache Flex SDK Installer 1.0 through its developer mailing list. This is an AIR application that provides one-click (plus a few other clicks to accept the license agreements) installation of the current Apache Flex SDK together all its dependencies. This makes it suitable for working with a range of IDEs including Adobe Flash Builder, FDT, IntelliJ IDEA, and FlashDevelop and gives an easy way to transition for older versions of the (Adobe) Flex SDK to the latest (Apache) release.

The Flex team has also provided an installer badge that can be used by websites or blogs. This can be downloaded complete with the code to give it a live button.

The installer downloads:

• Apache Flex SDK
• The AIR SDK (Windows & Mac) based on the current platform
• Adobe Flash Player playerglobal.swc
• SwfObject
• Open Source Media Framework (OSMF)
• Adobe Text Layout Format (TLF) 
• Adobe BlazeDS  (optional)
• Adobe Embedded Font Support (optional)

Work is reported to be progressing on the next version, 4.9.0, of the Flex SDK so it seems that Flex is adjusting well to its new home.