In short, loog into HTML5, CSS3, and JavaScript.
JavaScript is the programming language, and open standard, that
influenced Adobe Action Script. If your friend uses Action Script s/he
may already be comfortable with JavaScript.
There are some JavaScript projects that are emerging using HTML5 canvas
and even SVG. Take a look at these great libre source projects:
http://mbostock.github.com/protovis/
http://visitmix.com/work/glimmer/
http://gx.riccardodegni.net/
http://www.jstween.org/
http://processingjs.org/
http://fx.inetcat.com/
http://scripty2.com/
http://jsanim.com/
http://jquery.com/
http://rekapi.com/
