Adobe announces the end of Flash in December 2020

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… and not a moment too soon. I can’t imagine how much they’re spending on keeping the holes plugged in the holy mess. Adobe Corporate Communications
[See the full post at: Adobe announces the end of Flash in December 2020]

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AlexEiffel, Kirsty, lmacri, AJNorth, Elly, MrBrian

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Long overdue TBH but, welcome news nevertheless 🙂

Windows - commercial by definition and now function...

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They probably read my semi-snarky post here on AskWoody a couple of days ago – and Voila! 😀

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woody

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well, personally, i’m “flash-free” since 2010. 🙂

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I use ‘Adobe Acrobat Reader DC”.  Is this what they are talking about discontinuing in 2020 or is “Flash” something different?

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Adobe Acrobat Reader DC is a .PDF file reader.
Adobe Flash is something entirely different. It’s EOL is 2020.

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I’d argue you don’t even need a PDF reader these days, a lot of modern browsers like Chrome and FireFox can open PDFs.

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Some good news for once 🙂

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Collective sigh of relief from all streaming TV watchers:

?

-- rc primak

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I think back to Steve Jobs with his stance on Flash in iOS and him saying this would happen.  Everyone criticized him.

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We all owe a big, big thank you to Steve Jobs for creating a device so popular that doesn’t run Flash the rest of the world had to adapt to it and remove Flash from their website, while thinking how they could make web design responsive and use the possibilities of a high density display. This device was something from the future, imported in the current period to teach us where to go and we still haven’t completely adapted to it.

This was truly a visionary product, but it was also a masterpiece in execution. This doesn’t happen often in technology, compared to all the fake revolutions that are announced everyday.

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One popular site, at least in my home, that still uses flash is HBO Go. I had been for a long time using Chrome for HBO. That is until about a month or two ago. Now, I know very little about flash’s inter workings, but I do know that Chrome uses PPAPI (pepper flash) instead of NPAPI. And Google can add/change features to the flash. So, several months ago I noticed HBO Go had become very washed out. I had assumed it was just HBO. Then, a month and a half ago, I had trouble logging into HBO on Chrome, so I tried Edge. Even though I had flash enabled on Edge, I couldn’t get it to work…said it needed flash. I then tried IE. I was able to log in to HBO, and not only that, but the picture is back to being non-washed out. Blacks are black, colors are vivid. The sound is even better. So, not only am I still using flash, I’m back to IE (albeit just for HBO Go for now)…crazy times.

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dgreen, ch100

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I am very pleased that you ignored poor advice which everyone is too ready to provide and did the right thing. Just keep Flash up to date.
You could also try Firefox ESR 32-bit which supports Flash but if IE works well for you, there is no need to switch browsers. IE11 is in the same league with Chrome, Firefox and Safari on Mac and sometimes as you noticed, better than the other browsers.

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dgreen

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I am Flash free, except for Google Chrome.  I let that be my Flash viewer, set to ask permission, for when I want to view a Flash only site (which is rarely these days).  At least Chrome stays updated with the latest Flash version so I don’t have to think about updating it anymore.  🙂

I let Microsoft update the embedded Flash plugin, but is is disabled in my MS browsers.  🙂

Windows 10 Pro 22H2

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I have always used IE as my browser.
I disabled Java a few years ago.
I have  Adobe Flash and have it set to automatically update.
I have Adobe Reader XI version 11.0.20

Never had a problem with any of the above.
Windows 7 64bit Home Premium (Server 2008 R2)
Group B…. at the moment.

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ch100

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All good there.
You might also consider moving into normal patching, which is the so-called Group A. 🙂

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ch100 wrote:

All good there. You might also consider moving into normal patching, which is the so-called Group A. 🙂

ch100  (:

As you know, I unhid my updates and installed all with the exception of the “optional” ones.
I’m was giving it some thought until the messed up July patches.

I read on another thread that PKCano is entertaining the same thought and experimenting.

I’m kind of waiting for his results.
Yes, I’m a little gun shy at the moment.

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When that happens in 2020, I wonder how they will manage the security mess with new vulnerabilities. Will they suggest to people to uninstall Flash when they run it or issue a kill bit and compromise functionalities for users that still needs it on old web site?

People might have to keep it and then end up exposing themselves even more.

The good news is it gives a clear signal to developers they need to move away from it.

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I don’t agree this is a good idea. Remove it from Edge, sure. But, if Internet Explorer loses Flash, then it’s going to be gone from any browser. And that means that people will have to run insecure browsers to use old Flash content.

Sure, new stuff shouldn’t be made with Flash content, but there’s a lot of Flash content out there.

And, no, I don’t think Jobs had any foresight at all, and I wish that myth would die. He simply saw that Flash ran badly on his devices, and that Mac versions weren’t that good, so he decided to make Flash die. He didn’t have foresight. He was just doing what was best for Apple at the time.

Jobs died from treatable cancer because he believed in the healing power of crystals. Why do we keep revering him? I get recognizing his actual accomplishments, but not the mythology. He was just a good businessman. That’s it. He’s not some super genius.

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wavy

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I didn’t say what they should do, just made hypothesis about what they might do, highlighting the fact that although I am happy to see signals to send flash away, there are practical considerations about it that can’t be dismissed, as you pointed out.

As for Jobs, I am really not a fan or a believer in any of that mythology you are talking about. I actually know nothing about it and I am not interested by it either. I am not the kind of person who reads bios or is interested in people that way, nothing against it, but I am just more interested in systems. Jobs sure looked like a nut job in many aspects, and the criteria to say whether someone is a genius or not is not easy to define but being crazy certainly not prevent you from being a genius. Anyway, I didn’t say the guy was a genius and that question isn’t that interesting to me.

However, I do think that he revolutionized the world with his smartphone. Although I am not a gadget guy, I asked to have an Iphone to try it at work because I saw something there. I remember owning the Iphone and the Blackberry guys were all like, this is a toy, I have the real deal here and the real keyboard…. I was looking at their small screen and just knew there was something they didn’t understand there. The Iphone was lacking in many ways for business, but there was something there that would change everything. The Internet was with you, all the time, at your fingertips. Apple made this idea anybody could have come up with a reality, and they did it very well. Their OS and walled-garden store was well-thought for this new world of insecure devices. The Iphone made us enter a new era in terms of living with technology, for better or worse, depending on which way you look at it, but it definitely changed the world.

Sure, you can say maybe Jobs didn’t think all the things I attributed to him while deciding to not support flash, but that decision wasn’t incoherent with lots of things Apple do with old technology, although maybe a good number of times not for the best (headphone jack and ports on laptops). But when looking at the result, I just want to thank Steve Jobs for killing Flash because he had the power to do it and he succeeded.

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wavy, JohnW

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Well said!  🙂

Windows 10 Pro 22H2

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Two things Jobs did that I strongly feel is worth of being much appreciated for, were to introduce (1) the GUI we more or less still are using, regardless of machine brand or OS, to point and click rather than to issue line commands all the time, and (2) neatly packaging it along with the operating system of the Macs. He did not invent the GUI, and I am not sure he was more than a good engineer, because while he was brilliant in sensing which way things might go with an appropriate push at the right moment, that was on his businessman side and was the really exceptional talent that he had and needed to start and build what became a hugely successful corporation still going very strong. Phones came later, and the story repeated itself, even more successfully, as we all know.

Ah, I almost forgot: (3) making a variant of UNIX with touches of BSD the operating system that finally got the Macs (he introduced after coming back from his exile at NEXT) from being those cute and cool little machines into true workstation territory (that mine, for example, occupies very well right now) for those who need to do some serious computer work, are not keen on Windows and or MS generally and have some institutional, or other difficulties with using LINUX (although these are much less than they used to be, and getting to be even less, as time goes by.)

Now, there are those who are adverse to Apple and all its works, for reasons that are good enough for them. I don’t want to argue their points. Thank you.

Ex-Windows user (Win. 98, XP, 7); since mid-2017 using also macOS. Presently on Monterey 12.15 & sometimes running also Linux (Mint).

MacBook Pro circa mid-2015, 15" display, with 16GB 1600 GHz DDR3 RAM, 1 TB SSD, a Haswell architecture Intel CPU with 4 Cores and 8 Threads model i7-4870HQ @ 2.50GHz.
Intel Iris Pro GPU with Built-in Bus, VRAM 1.5 GB, Display 2880 x 1800 Retina, 24-Bit color.
macOS Monterey; browsers: Waterfox "Current", Vivaldi and (now and then) Chrome; security apps. Intego AV

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[Alex5723]

“When is the Flash Player end-of-life (EOL)?

As previously announced in July 2017, Adobe will stop distributing and updating Flash Player after December 31, 2020 (“EOL Date”). We made this announcement in collaboration with several of our technology partners – including Apple, Facebook, Google, Microsoft and Mozilla – which issued complementary announcements with more technical detail on what the Flash Player EOL will mean for developers, enterprises, and consumers using their specific OS environments or browsers….

We recommend that all users uninstall Flash Player before the EOL date (see manual uninstall instructions for Windows and Mac users). Users will be prompted by Adobe to uninstall Flash Player on their machines later this year and Flash-based content will be blocked from running in Adobe Flash Player after the EOL Date.”

https://www.adobe.com/products/flashplayer/end-of-life.html

• This reply was modified 4 years, 10 months ago by Alex5723.
• This reply was modified 4 years, 10 months ago by Paul T.
• This reply was modified 4 years, 10 months ago by Paul T.

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I wonder if older players will be turned off.

🍻

Just because you don't know where you are going doesn't mean any road will get you there.

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OscarCP

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In Bohemian Rhapsody, Queen performed a musical tribute to Flash – Saviour of the Universe !  (here just 47 seconds of audio)

BATcher

Plethora means a lot to me.

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OscarCP

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With Flash gone (and about time!) there might be Web Pages that will no longer be completely accessible, because they require Flash to show videos, etc. and have not been modified to use something else. Those pages are the only reason I have kept on updating Flash. (And that is the same reason I still keep on updating Java, because there are pages built with their main contents requiring Java to be accessed.)

Ex-Windows user (Win. 98, XP, 7); since mid-2017 using also macOS. Presently on Monterey 12.15 & sometimes running also Linux (Mint).

MacBook Pro circa mid-2015, 15" display, with 16GB 1600 GHz DDR3 RAM, 1 TB SSD, a Haswell architecture Intel CPU with 4 Cores and 8 Threads model i7-4870HQ @ 2.50GHz.
Intel Iris Pro GPU with Built-in Bus, VRAM 1.5 GB, Display 2880 x 1800 Retina, 24-Bit color.
macOS Monterey; browsers: Waterfox "Current", Vivaldi and (now and then) Chrome; security apps. Intego AV

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Running Flash and the Java web applet increases your attack surface for online exploits that are known to be in the wild. They have scripts that probe your browser for that stuff before deciding what to throw at you.

I would uninstall them. Just a friendly suggestion.

Take a peek at browserleaks.com for examples of how much info you give up about about your browser capabilities, particularly your Flash and Java versions.

Windows 10 Pro 22H2

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JohnW wrote: “Running Flash and the Java web applet increases your attack surface for online exploits”

Thanks for the well meaning advice. I am aware of that risk, but I need to keep Java, not because of a personal preference, but to be able to download geophysical data I use in my work, from some NOAA archival sites that require using Java. I need Flash less, but I am not rushing to get rid of it until I have not come across sites that require it for at least some months after Adobe stops supporting it. Until I decide to do otherwise, I am keeping both, but turned off, unless I need them running again to get something done. I know doing this presents some risk, but it is one I am willing to take.

I suspect I am not the only one in such a situation.

Ex-Windows user (Win. 98, XP, 7); since mid-2017 using also macOS. Presently on Monterey 12.15 & sometimes running also Linux (Mint).

MacBook Pro circa mid-2015, 15" display, with 16GB 1600 GHz DDR3 RAM, 1 TB SSD, a Haswell architecture Intel CPU with 4 Cores and 8 Threads model i7-4870HQ @ 2.50GHz.
Intel Iris Pro GPU with Built-in Bus, VRAM 1.5 GB, Display 2880 x 1800 Retina, 24-Bit color.
macOS Monterey; browsers: Waterfox "Current", Vivaldi and (now and then) Chrome; security apps. Intego AV

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You won’t be able to run HomestarRunner, no!!!

cheers, Paul

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[Alex5723]

“unless I need them running again to get something done.”

After Dec. 31 Adobe will block flash content. I don’t know how Adobe will accomplish the blocking.

“and Flash-based content will be blocked from running in Adobe Flash Player after the EOL Date.””

https://www.adobe.com/products/flashplayer/end-of-life.html

• This reply was modified 4 years, 10 months ago by Alex5723.

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