The Flash Apocalypse is Nigh

I’m simultaneously amazed and not surprised that Adobe Flash is still as widely used as it is currently. I was just working with a client who uses a website for a very large financial services company where certain key features rely on Flash. And this site was just launched. I know of several other clients who regularly rely on training websites to ensure employee compliance that require Flash be enabled to view their webinars. It’s as if all the major technology companies haven’t been warning for years that Adobe Flash was a dead-end technology riddled with security flaws. Heck, Google started hammering nails in Flash’s coffin five years ago, and yet, here it is, still required throughout the corporate workplace.

“I’m not dead yet!”

Unlike the famous Monty Python scene, there’s nothing humorous about Adobe’s stated plans to discontinue support for the stand-alone Flash Player at the end of this year. Not only will it no longer be supported, Adobe has stated that it will just stop working at that point, and should be uninstalled. I can see some of you scratching your head, “Hang on, isn’t Flash built into my browser?” And therein lies maybe a small amount of grace for tardy developers who are hoping to eke out a few more miles from their Flash content. Chrome, Firefox and Edge all have Flash built into the browser, but make you manually unblock each website that still requires Flash to operate, and there are, as of today, no definite dates for when those browsers kick Flash to the curb for good. You can bet that it won’t be too much past Adobe’s deadline. If you are relying on a website that still uses Flash, you know who you are: the hoops you have to jump through to use a Flash website are essentially impossible to avoid. Make sure you contact your content provider to find out what plans they have, if any, to upgrade their websites when Adobe Flash finally shuffles off this mortal coil.

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