Flash Developers Jumping Ship Ahead of 2020 Deadline

Turn the clock back to 2011 and more than a quarter (28.5 percent) websites operational online still utilized Adobe Flash. Return to the present day in the summer of 2018 and less than 5 percent of websites now feature Flash functionality. Once upon a time, Adobe Flash powered almost everything that moved on the internet, but the way that the smartphone industry exploded into popular culture and the subsequent development of more efficient alternatives has led to the rapid decline of one of Adobe's flagship products.

Many Flash developers have already jumped ship, with the leading website browsers encouraging experts to work on alternatives if they want their content to be displayed intuitively and securely on browsers such as Mozilla Firefox and Google Chrome. However, there remains a significant job in the hands of Flash developers to work with content creators to migrate any existing Flash content to new open formats. For some time, Adobe has been encouraging developers to build in conjunction with contemporary Web standards due to various flaws with Flash that were labeled by former Apple co-founder, Steve Jobs, as a "relic of the PC era."

What went wrong for Adobe Flash?

First and foremost, Flash has presented several significant security risks for consumers and organizations in recent years. Cyber-hackers have targeted Flash extensions for many years for exploitations. Jerome Segura, the lead malware analyst at Malwarebytes, said that following an "alarming number of zero-day exploits distributed via large malvertizing campaigns in recent years" increasing numbers of security experts had "urged users to completely remove Flash from their machines."

Nevertheless, the most critical aspect of the slow decline of Flash was its gradual obsolescence. It was steadily overtaken by open standards such as WebGL, WebAssembly and HTML5; all of which have matured significantly in recent years. Even Adobe acknowledged the push toward open standards, for content creation and usability, admitting that "many of the capabilities and functionalities that plugins pioneered" are now standard, becoming a "viable alternative for content on the Web."

The final nail in the Flash coffin came in 2015 when Google opted to side with Apple against Flash by migrating its YouTube videos from Flash to the HTML5 format. Google also created a new tool, called Swiffy, allowing users to convert Flash content for HTML5-compatible environments. darmowe gry jednoręki bandyta.

Introducing HTML5: The New (Old) Cross-Platform Technology

One of the reasons that Steve Jobs insisted that Flash was old hat was due to the potential for HTML5 to operate everything that Flash could in a more secure, cross-platform manner. HTML5 is the latest version of the internet's hypertext markup language (HTML), but it has, in fact, been around for more than a decade. The overwhelming appeal of HTML5 is that it allows developers to create intricate content and applications that can work and operate within Web browsers on desktops, laptops, smartphones and tablet devices alike; creating a unified, consistent user experience.

HTML5 has been mostly welcomed by industries with increasingly mobile user bases. The e-learning industry has been revolutionized as a result, with HTML5-powered online courses and lessons providing more interactivity and engagement than ever before thanks to slick integrated visuals, animation and video. Users can also expect the same level of interaction, whether they are taking a course using their tablet, desktop or smartphone. The emergence of HTML5 technology has also been felt in the iGaming industry where games and applications used to depend heavily on Flash plug-ins, which posed an issue for iPhone devices. However, new casino games designed in HTML5 format exclude the need for any additional plug-ins, improving the fluidity and cross-platform iGaming for Mac users.

Adobe has confirmed that it will discontinue Flash development by 2020, but, in truth, much has already ceased. However, until its official end-of-life date, Adobe has confirmed it will continue to publish security patches for the latest Flash plug-in. It is vital that Adobe does its duty to protect the integrity of its plug-in and its users to keep up with changes to browsers and operating systems, incorporating essential features and capabilities where necessary. Another critical Flash task at the top of the agenda for Adobe will be preventing the distribution of illegal Flash versions and outdated versions that present significant security risks for all concerned.