So what will replace Flash?

[DJ_K666]

I just got a notification saying Adobe will no longer run Flash on PCs from the 12th. Will something come along to replace it? If so, what?

 

[Mike395]

The internet has moved on - HTML5 has replaced it already, pretty much internet-wide. Flash has been unsupported officially by Adobe for a while now aside from security updates.

 

[BluePenguin]

But those beloved Flash games we used to play on the computers at school will live on. There is a third party project which you might find useful to run Flash applications, have a look into it

 

[3rd rail land]

The internet has moved on - HTML5 has replaced it already, pretty much internet-wide. Flash has been unsupported officially by Adobe for a while now aside from security updates.

HTML5 has been around for a while now and Adobe have been advertising eth end of life date for Adobe at least 18 months now, possible even longer. Adobe supported the security aspect of Flash until 31st December 2020 and advised people to uninstall it as it could get hacked/compromised due to no on going security support.

I was finding in 2020, and quite possibly 2019 as well, that Flash had to be manually allowed and was blocked by default. I know the was the case for Chrome and Edge but I assume it was the case for pretty much all browsers.

 

[DB]

HTML5, as others have said.

And good riddance to Flash - it was awful, and was notable for its many security issues. Most browsers have been blocking it by default anyway since earlier in the year, and it has largely disappeared from most websites now.

 

[SS4]

HTML5 has superseded it and whilst I do not likely the inclusion of DRM into what is meant to be an open standard it's still better than flash.

I remember reading somewhere that flash games were being archived somewhere (maybe archive.org) for posterity but I do wonder how much was lost

 

[GusB]

When I first started dabbling with Linux (Ubuntu) several years ago it could often be a nightmare to get sites containing Flash content to work properly. It gradually got better over time but it could be rather frustrating to find that, having spent ages tweaking to get it working properly, a new version of Flash or a system update could result with the whole process having to be repeated.

I remember entire websites being created from Flash and, while they seemed "cool and interactive" compared to what had gone before, they were a pain in the arse to load if your connection wasn't particularly fast.

Good riddance!

 

[JonathanP]

The decline of Flash as a universally available media platform was kicked off in 2007 when Apple refused to allow it to run on the original iPhone, so everyone has had a very long time to transition to alternative technologies.

These days HTML5 + Javascript can do pretty much everything Flash could, although not always as efficiently.

 

[Logan Carroll]

When I first started dabbling with Linux (Ubuntu) several years ago it could often be a nightmare to get sites containing Flash content to work properly. It gradually got better over time but it could be rather frustrating to find that, having spent ages tweaking to get it working properly, a new version of Flash or a system update could result with the whole process having to be repeated.

I remember entire websites being created from Flash and, while they seemed "cool and interactive" compared to what had gone before, they were a pain in the arse to load if your connection wasn't particularly fast.

Good riddance!

I remember when right clicking flash content would cause it to crash on Linux (I also remember being magically fixed with the first chrome extension only version of Firefox so it might be a Mozilla problem rather than adobe)

But flash is better consinged to the history books with emulators being managed by dedicated enthusiasts.

 

[D365]

But those beloved Flash games we used to play on the computers at school will live on. There is a third party project which you might find useful to run Flash applications, have a look into it

Which project are you referring to?

 

[nlogax]

Which project are you referring to?

I would assume this is Lightspark.

https://lightspark.github.io/

Lightspark is an LGPLv3 licensed Flash player and browser plugin written in C++/C that runs on Linux and Windows. It aims to support all of Adobe's Flash formats.

 

[Xenophon PCDGS]

As a matter of interest, did the earlier versions of the BT Wholesale speed checker need to have Adobe Flash installed on computers in order to function.?

Thankfully, the new BT version is free from such hinderences.

 

[GusB]

As a matter of interest, did the earlier versions of the BT Wholesale speed checker need to have Adobe Flash installed on computers in order to function.?

Thankfully, the new BT version is free from such hinderences.

I'm fairly certain it previously used a Java applet rather than Flash. I haven't used their speed checker since I upgraded to fibre, so I've no idea what it uses now.

 

[dosxuk]

As a matter of interest, did the earlier versions of the BT Wholesale speed checker need to have Adobe Flash installed on computers in order to function.?

Thankfully, the new BT version is free from such hinderences.

I don't know about the BT one, but many of the speed test sites used to use Flash (or Java or ActiveX), primarily because back in those days doing a speed test in JavaScript was impossible.

It needs remembering that Flash was the technology for interactivity on websites because what it did was impossible in the browser without plugins. It was only killed off because it would have made the app store on the iPhone pointless so Apple deliberately blocked it, even when Adobe managed to work around the complaints Apple had. All of the early apps you paid Apple to buy for your phone could have been built in Flash and hosted on a web page, but that would have cut Apple out of any payments so it had to go.

If as much effort had been put into a "safe" Flash player as replacement viewers for PDF files (another Adobe product that is known for security issues) then Flash would have been alive, well and safe to use today. That it isn't is nothing to do with it being a hindrance and entirely about money.

 

[AMR]

HTML 5 has replaced most things that used flash, for me.

 

[matacaster]

Aldi do one called powerforce lemon I believe.

 

[Mcr Warrior]

Aldi do one called powerforce lemon I believe.

Arf! Very good!

When was Procter & Gamble's 'Flash Powder' last available, by the way?

 

[ABB125]

Arf! Very good!

When was Procter & Gamble's 'Flash Powder' last available, by the way?

"Flash powder" sounds a bit... exciting to me! Kind of like a cheap alternative to gunpowder...