Adobe Flash Player is dead

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flash player is dead

It had a good run but today officially the Adobe Flash Player is dead. In the early 90s it was a revolutionary piece of software created by Adobe that brought animation and interactivity to web and desktop applications.

What is Adobe Flash Player?

Today’s kids wouldn’t even know what Flash Player is but in the 90s its all what we had.

  • Flash was once one of the most popular ways for people to stream videos and play games online.
  • Flash failed to transition to the smartphone era with security and performance issues
  • All videos and and animations running through Adobe Flash Player will stop playing on Jan 12

What will happen now that Flash Player is dead

As of December 31st 2020 the end of life for Adobe Flash Player has arrived and Adobe has ended support for the famous software. It means that major browsers will shut it down and Adobe itself will stop videos and animations running in its Flash Player from 12 January. Adobe has also asked users to uninstall their version of Flash Player since they will no longer offer any security updates.

One of the biggest challenges to the adoption of Adobe’s Flash has been the opposition by Apple’s Steve Jobs. Back in 2010 he was very vocal about his dislike for Flash because of security and performance and even wrote a public note on the Apple website titled “Thoughts on Flash” where he announced that Apple would not allow Flash on iPhone or iPad.

It’s hard to believe that in 2009, just a year before when Steve Jobs wrote that note, Flash had an installed user base of around 99% of internet-connected desktop PCs. But then the decline of Adobe Flash began as the world transition to the smartphone era and in July 2017, Adobe announced that it would retire Flash in 2020.

How to remove Adobe Flash player

Here are Adobe’s final words on Flash:

“We want to take a moment to thank all of our customers and developers who have used and created amazing Flash Player content over the last two decades. We are proud that Flash had a crucial role in evolving web content across animation, interactivity, audio, and video.”

Adobe has provided instructions for removing Flash on Windows and Mac

Adobe has also given the warning: “Uninstalling Flash Player will help to secure your system since Adobe does not intend to issue Flash Player updates or security patches after the end-of-life date.”

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