Adobe Flash Player, formerly Macromedia Flash and Shockwave Flash, was a multimedia format and platform that was developed by Macromedia to deliver dynamic web content.[1] It was since been acquired by Adobe Systems, Microsoft has started to phase out Flash from its Edge browser by including a click-to-run option.[2] Adobe Flash Player has been discontinued since December 31, 2020 and no longer loads Flash content since January 12, 2021. The plug-in now displays a warning recommending that you remove Adobe Flash Player from your PC as soon as possible. Microsoft 365 blocks Flash content by default for security reasons.
History[]
Logos for Flash and Shockwave web content by Macromedia, before being acquired by Adobe in 2005.
In December 1996, Macromedia acquired FutureSplash Animator, which became Macromedia Flash and eventually overtook Shockwave to become the leading multimedia plug-in for the web.[1] Macromedia Flash was occasionally referred to as "Shockwave Flash" and even shared the file format extension (swf), leading to confusion between the two. In 2005, Macromedia was acquired by Adobe Systems, which renamed the products to Adobe Flash and Adobe Shockwave.[3] Adobe Flash Player is included with Microsoft Edge by default.[2]
Old Flash logo from 2002.
Discontinuation[]
In April 2010, Apple CEO Steve Jobs criticized the Flash platform and stated that the company would not allow it to run on its iOS devices.[4] Developers of third-party web browsers began to blacklist the Flash plugin by default due to security issues.[5] In July 2017, Adobe announced that it would phase out support for Flash by the end of 2020.[6]
In February 2016, the authoring application was re-branded as Adobe Animate with support for web-based standards such as HTML5.[7]
References[]
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 The Life, Death and Rebirth of Adobe Flash by Christina Warren, Mashable. 2012-11-19.
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 Adobe Flash, Microsoft. 2018-10-01.
- ↑ Macromedia Flash SWF File Format, Library of Congress. Accessed 2018-06-26.
- ↑ Thoughts on Flash by Steve Jobs, Apple. 2010-04.
- ↑ Google and Mozilla pull the plug on Adobe Flash: Tech giants disable the program on browsers following 'critical' security flaw by Victoria Woollaston, Daily Mail. 2015-07-14.
- ↑ Flash & The Future of Interactive Content, Adobe. 2017-07-25.
- ↑ Lardinois, Frederic (2016-02-09). "Adobe Launches Animate CC, Previously Known As Flash Professional". TechCrunch.
See also[]
External links[]
- Update for the removal of Adobe Flash Player at Microsoft Support (2020-10-27)
- Adobe Flash runtimes at Adobe
- Adobe Flash Player End-of-Life info (2021-01-13)
- Flash Player issues on Windows 10 / Edge (2019-05-21, archived 2021-01-05)
- Adobe Flash at Wikipedia