Adobe Halts Flash Player Development for Android

CommanderFrank

CommanderFrank

Cat Can't Scratch It
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May 9, 2000
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Adobe announced on Friday that all future development of Flash player for Android smartphones will be halted. For phones already with Flash, Adobe plans to continue support by releasing security upgrades as needed.

Since Adobe is halting all development of the software, the company plans to modify settings on the Google Play store to limit the devices that can download the software
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That's a relief... so now can someone start working on getting rid of Java?
 
This is old news, they're just reiterating it in light of Jelly Bean's announcement. Flash on Android works very well tho and there's still a ton of sites using it.. /shrug
 
I wish Flash would just die. If I could stop rolling out weekly updates of Flash and Adobe Reader I could get some productive work done. I removed Java from all of the office machines. Nobody has missed it.
 
What is it with Flash and geek hate?

I've been using Flash for YEARS and haven't had issues with it. I mean, sure its crashed here and there but so does everything else. Have you never had a OS crash on you? How about your internet browser itself?

Yes, I see the benefits of HTML5, but that doesn't mean Flash just needs to die.

So, again I ask, whats with all the Flash hate?
 
JoeUser said:
What is it with Flash and geek hate?

I've been using Flash for YEARS and haven't had issues with it. I mean, sure its crashed here and there but so does everything else. Have you never had a OS crash on you? How about your internet browser itself?

Yes, I see the benefits of HTML5, but that doesn't mean Flash just needs to die.

So, again I ask, whats with all the Flash hate?
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1) It crashes/freezes pretty often on every computer ive used it on.

2) THAT STUPID FUCKING ANNOYING AS SHIT ADOBE UPDATER.
 
Impulse said:
This is old news, they're just reiterating it in light of Jelly Bean's announcement. Flash on Android works very well tho and there's still a ton of sites using it.. /shrug
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was going to say they announced this months ago...
 
This is a dumb move by Adobe, but hopefully a move that will help spark developers to stop coding in flash and use something standardized and open, like html5. Flash needs to die.
 
leeleatherwood said:
1) It crashes/freezes pretty often on every computer ive used it on.

2) THAT STUPID FUCKING ANNOYING AS SHIT ADOBE UPDATER.
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And it slows down my wife's laptop and any machine that isn't up to date. (Actually silverlight is worse) Granted, the problem is the flash developers, but at least with HTML5, bad code and malicious code will be able to be better managed by the makers of browsers. If Chrome, FF, Opera, Safari, IE, etc.. can't handle all the stuff HTML5 throws at uses then the browser will suffer in % of user base. With flash, security and other problems are beyond their control.

Plus it's annoying trying to update someone's site when they have flash without source.
 
Red Squirrel said:
This is a dumb move by Adobe, but hopefully a move that will help spark developers to stop coding in flash and use something standardized and open, like html5. Flash needs to die.
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Heh. You said "Flash" and "standardized" in the same sentence. HTML5 will end up just as if not more annoying to everyone than Flash IMHO.
 
JoeUser said:
...So, again I ask, whats with all the Flash hate?
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The endless security holes, the constant patches, and the great lengths they go to in making sure I cannot download a full install to redistribute in the office. We have limited bandwidth and the time I have to spend getting it up to date could be better spent working on something that makes our company money. Then the Firefox 13/Flash 11.3 updates that were crashing left me having to update it twice in 2 days. Apparently there is no testing on this stuff before it goes out the door.
 
xxEIEIOxx said:
I wish Flash would just die. If I could stop rolling out weekly updates of Flash and Adobe Reader I could get some productive work done. I removed Java from all of the office machines. Nobody has missed it.
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Yeah, Flash needs to die. It devours CPU power, sucks up battery life, and is a conduit for persistent cookies that profile activity on the web. It's constantly getting updated for exploits and is a PITA to keep after. And what does it give back? Stupid videos and animations in advertisements are about the extent of what it does on most websites. It's good to see them ending support for Android. Maybe web developers will follow suit and move away from it.
 
JoeUser said:
What is it with Flash and geek hate?

I've been using Flash for YEARS and haven't had issues with it. I mean, sure its crashed here and there but so does everything else. Have you never had a OS crash on you? How about your internet browser itself?

Yes, I see the benefits of HTML5, but that doesn't mean Flash just needs to die.

So, again I ask, whats with all the Flash hate?
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Gee I don't know, maybe ALL THE GODDAMN EXPLOITS BASED ON IT? It's a never ending supply of exploits for malware and grief for everyone. I think it accounts for 15-25% of all driveby download malware. "Keep it updated" you say? Fuck it, replace it.

Also, the way it's used as an advertising platform too is annoying. All those ads people try their best to ignore sit in the background and take up CPU cycles, thanks Flash! Remember one time the Flash ads alone were taking up 40% of my CPU, that's when I knew something was clearly wrong.

But really, it's the exploits that does them in. Adobe is terrible with security, Adobe Acrobat/Reader and Adobe Flash account for like ~40% of all web based driveby malware
 
Seeing how no one has mentioned it yet: How will I watch porn on my android devices in the future? Flash sucks and all, but there is no standard video tag yet and giant media sites can't switch overnight. Even youtube is having trouble converting its collection. The only reason flash is dying is because of the proliferation of iDevives, not html5 (which still isn't complete).
 
JosiahBradley said:
Seeing how no one has mentioned it yet: How will I watch porn on my android devices in the future? Flash sucks and all, but there is no standard video tag yet and giant media sites can't switch overnight. Even youtube is having trouble converting its collection. The only reason flash is dying is because of the proliferation of iDevives, not html5 (which still isn't complete).
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I suggest real life naked people.
 
JoeUser said:
What is it with Flash and geek hate?

I've been using Flash for YEARS and haven't had issues with it. I mean, sure its crashed here and there but so does everything else. Have you never had a OS crash on you? How about your internet browser itself?

Yes, I see the benefits of HTML5, but that doesn't mean Flash just needs to die.

So, again I ask, whats with all the Flash hate?
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how about it killing video in FF last time I updated?

really the hate is that its outdated and really falling behind. its something that is kept going because of the install base. it uses twice the resources of other methods, is really insecure on a basic level (that is why they have to do all those freaking updates), and generally is a pain in the ass. its time to move on.

still I think this is dumb on their part. why give up that large of an install base.
 
What annoys me about flash is that it doesnt have a built in mute button per element. It is becoming increasingly popular to put sound in sidebar flash ads on YouTube which play repeatedly over the video you're trying to watch. By far the stupidest thing Google has allowed on YT.
 
Flash: has ActionScript (ECMA Script & Java's baby), strong SVG support, common runtime environment, lots of hardware and other APIs.

HTML 5: needs to be combined with JavaScript, which is less powerful than ActionScript. SVG support depends on the browser, no common runtime. No hardware APIs, just HTML DOM.

HTML 5 video is a horror. I have mucked about in the Firefox media framework implementation for its HTML 5 video support and it made me want to run away crying. I have attempted to replace it with a Libav-based version (fork of ffmpeg) for full hardware-acceleration and other niceties, but the Firefox build system is a horror.

Full-screen HTML 5 video is... sometimes possible, depending on the implementation. The one time when YouTube switched me over to HTML 5 video without telling me I thought that Flash had broken. It was laggy, no full-screen video and generally unusable.

As a user and developer I'll be sticking to Flash...
 
HTML5 is not ready for prime time. It's bizarre to see Flash support ending before thats even ready to go.
 
NKDietrich said:
HTML5 is not ready for prime time. It's bizarre to see Flash support ending before thats even ready to go.
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That's probably why they're stopping it on Android first where there really isn't enough processor power already and running a CPU at higher clock speeds will be a more serious detriment since many more devices are battery operated. It will have less adverse impact there than it will on the more established PC market.

Starting to slow the spread of Flash there can also begin to breed a culture of web developers who aren't accustomed to taking Flash as the easy way out of good web design. If mobile developers get their psychology straight and realize that Flash's many detriments make using it a disservice and even an insult to people visiting a site, that might make its way into the broader community as well.
 
Haven't there been tests that show HTML5 is just as much of a battery/performance hog as Flash? Frankly it just seems like Adobe gave up on the product/market prematurely, but Google seems to wanna make Chrome the stock Android browser and Chrome never supported Flash (only the previously stock browser did) so Adobe probably saw it was out of their hands anyway.
 
Impulse said:
Haven't there been tests that show HTML5 is just as much of a battery/performance hog as Flash? Frankly it just seems like Adobe gave up on the product/market prematurely, but Google seems to wanna make Chrome the stock Android browser and Chrome never supported Flash (only the previously stock browser did) so Adobe probably saw it was out of their hands anyway.
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I bet it is every bit as much of a power and CPU hog since doing the same stuff with HTML5 asks a computer to deal with the a similar workload. And yeah, you've pointed out a fundamental problem with the web in general. As long as there's an option to make stupid animated advertisements and a means to play the countless millions of hours of mostly useless video content out there, developers will impose a "Flash-like" burden because their customers or managers will demand it of them.

You could always switch to using Lynx though I don't know if there's an Android port available.
 
At least with Flash there were explicit settings forturning it off in the browsers that did support it, and you could always just not install it to begin with. I'm sure we'll get similar options for HTML5 content if ads or that sort become pervasive, but I honestly thought Adobe did a very good job with their mobile port on Android, probably a better job than they did on desktop browsers.
 
That's probably the problem. Adobe software usually requires bi-daily security updates and bug fixes. If Flash on Androids doesn't meet Abode's standards because it wasn't being exploited and patched frequently enough, then they probably fired the development team to prevent attitudes and work ethics like that from spreading to other parts of the company out of fear for what it might do to their hard-earned industry reputation.
 
Flash = binary blobs.
With HTML and JavaScript, you can actually inspect and alter what is going on. It also allows for much better privilege separation.
 
pankkake said:
Flash = binary blobs.
With HTML and JavaScript, you can actually inspect and alter what is going on. It also allows for much better privilege separation.
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Not true, you can disassemble SWFs.

Also, what privilege separation?
 
Wth kind of phones are you complaining about? My droid runs flash fine seems like they just don't want to keep developing a new version for every new android phone. I can't even read the article, link is down
 
I almost posted a facepalm jpg after reading about some of you not allowing auto updates for adobe flash, adobe reader and java.

If you don't get the constant updates, then you should just uninstall these things immediately and NEVER put them back. The constant updates are a MAJOR part of keeping your system free of infections. There are so many exploits that are crushed every few days it seems that if you don't update, you are simply open to attack.

Do your updates.

Save yourself some heartburn later.

This has been a public service announcement. ;)
 
Advil said:
I almost posted a facepalm jpg after reading about some of you not allowing auto updates for adobe flash, adobe reader and java.

If you don't get the constant updates, then you should just uninstall these things immediately and NEVER put them back. The constant updates are a MAJOR part of keeping your system free of infections. There are so many exploits that are crushed every few days it seems that if you don't update, you are simply open to attack.

Do your updates.

Save yourself some heartburn later.

This has been a public service announcement. ;)
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Easy to say when you aren't looking after a network with hundreds of computers. Updating some of these software plugins break the software they are supposed to support.

Its a major catch 22 and one which the people out to exploit your systems are banking on.
 
Advil said:
I almost posted a facepalm jpg after reading about some of you not allowing auto updates for adobe flash, adobe reader and java.

If you don't get the constant updates, then you should just uninstall these things immediately and NEVER put them back. The constant updates are a MAJOR part of keeping your system free of infections. There are so many exploits that are crushed every few days it seems that if you don't update, you are simply open to attack.

Do your updates.

Save yourself some heartburn later.

This has been a public service announcement. ;)
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I never update flash. (I do update java sometimes though)

Ive never got a virus/malware in 15 years of computing. Yes I do visit my fair share of torrent and porn sites, I'm just not stupid enough to click on anything that is sketchy.
 
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