Finally, the death bells of Adobe Flash Player are ready to buzz because Adobe Inc. has officially declared that it will stop updating and distributing the Flash Player technology at the end of 2020. The company will encourage content creators to migrate any existing Flash content to these new open formats like HTML5, WebGL and WebAssembly.
What’s future plan?
Adobe Inc. is aggressively planning to move to EOL Flash in certain geographies where unlicensed and outdated versions of Flash Player are being distributed.
What will be impact on users?
There would not be major impact on users after the end of Flash and Flash Player because popular browsers have already moved away from the format. Just take an example of macOS Sierra and Safari 10, Apple has already disabled Adobe Flash by default to focus on HTML5 and to improve the overall web browsing experience.
Similarly, Google’s Chrome 53 browser has also blocked the Flash content since 2016 and switched to the faster HTML5 web standard.
HTML5 is much lighter and faster and switching to this web standard will speed up page loading and save you more battery life.
Adobe Flash Player + Tech partners
The announcement to end the life of Adobe Flash Player has come in collaboration with partners like Apple Inc., Facebook Inc., Google, Microsoft and Mozilla to maintain the security and compatibility of Flash content. For example:-
- Apple is offering WebKit as an alternative to Flash.
- Google Chrome will require explicit permission from users to run Flash content until support is completely removed in late 2020.
- Microsoft will phase out support for Flash in Microsoft Edge and Internet Explorer by the end of 2020.
- By now, Microsoft Edge requires user interaction before running any Flash content starting with the Windows 10 Creators Update and Flash will disabled by default in both of Microsoft’s browsers by 2019.
- Mozilla will also disable Flash by default for users in 2019 and only users running the Firefox Extended Support Release will be able to continue using Flash through late 2020. Once Adobe stops with its security patches, no version of Firefox will load the plugin.
Before 2020?
Though, before 2020, Adobe will continue to support Flash on major Operating Systems (OSs) and browsers that currently support Flash content through the planned EOL. This will include issuing regular security patches, maintaining OS and browser compatibility and adding features and capabilities as needed.
According to official blog post, Adobe will also remain at the forefront of leading the development of new web standards and actively participate in their advancement.
This includes continuing to contribute to the HTML5 standard and participating in the WebAssembly Community Group. And, it will continue to provide best in class animation and video tools such as Animate CC, the premier web animation tool for developing HTML5 content, and Premiere Pro CC.
We'll stop updating & distributing Flash Player by the end of 2020. More about our plans & a look at what’s next: https://t.co/P925Dozz6k pic.twitter.com/4Ss82ZfdeI
— Adobe (@Adobe) July 25, 2017
