Adobe said it will end-of-life Flash and stop providing updates and distributing the software at the end of 2020.
The move will be cheered in some circles. Adobe Flash has been derided among security pros due to frequent zero-day attacks. Flash is among the biggest security risks to Windows.
Former Apple CEO Steve Jobs famously declared Flash obsolete in 2010. Google started phasing out Adobe Flash Player a year ago in Chrome 53 in favor of HTML5. See: Fed up with Adobe Flash? Make it safer
Adobe said in a blog that "open standards like HTML5, WebGL and WebAssembly have matured over the past several years" and have replicated most features that were in Flash. Adobe noted that Flash and Shockwave were created because the web lacked interactive formats.
Microsoft commits to eliminating Flash support in Windows by 2020
Nevertheless, Adobe said it will work with tech partners to encourage content creators to migrate to open formats.
As for industries affected by Flash's demise, gaming, education and video will be most affected. Enterprises that also still have Flash content will have to start migrating pronto. Forrester analyst Jefferey Hammond noted:
So now the Flash player will end of life Dec 31st, 2020, quickly followed by Microsoft Silverlight Support in October, 2021. If your firm still has Flash content or enterprise applications that use Flex, make no mistake - the clock is ticking.
On the browser front, Microsoft said it will continue to ask permission to run Flash into 2018 and require permission for each session. Internet Explorer will allow Flash for all sites in 2018 and disable it in mid to late 2019. Mozilla said Flash will be disabled in 2019 and users will choose what sites can run Flash in 2018.
Facebook also outlined migration plans for its game developers.
So the time is growing short to move from Flash to some other 'open' format program.
DrDave
