I want to clarify that ASWF is not specific to VFX per se. But it is specific to the film industry.

I was sloppy by saying "VFX" so emphatically. It (including 3D feature animation) is the part of the film industry that is the most software-heavy and has been very active in open source. VFX/animation studios have created several particular open source projects that the entire section of the industry is utterly dependent upon. I'm not sure if there are any analogous cases in other film industry disciplines, but they certainly are not meant to be excluded if such cases come to light.