[Gnash-dev] FYI: Adobe: Flash to EOL in 2020

[John Gilmore]

Interesting.  By 2020, Gnash will be the only Flash player available?!

        John

Forwarded-By: "Dave Farber" <address@hidden>
Forwarded-By: Richard Forno <address@hidden>
Date: July 25, 2017 at 1:04:22 PM EDT
To: Infowarrior List <address@hidden>
Cc: Dave Farber <address@hidden>
Subject: Adobe: Flash to EOL in 2020

(can't come soon enough!  -- rick)

Flash & The Future of Interactive Content

https://blogs.adobe.com/conversations/2017/07/adobe-flash-update.html

Posted by Adobe Corporate Communications on July 25, 2017

Adobe has long played a leadership role in advancing interactivity and creative 
content =E2=80=93 from video, to games and more =E2=80=93 on the web. Where 
we=E2=80=99ve seen a need to push content and interactivity forward, 
we=E2=80=99ve innovated to meet those needs. Where a format didn=E2=80=99t 
exist, we invented one =E2=80=93 such as with Flash and Shockwave. And over 
time, as the web evolved, these new formats were adopted by the community, in 
some cases formed the basis for open standards, and became an essential part of 
the web.

But as open standards like HTML5, WebGL and WebAssembly have matured over the 
past several years, most now provide many of the capabilities and 
functionalities that plugins pioneered and have become a viable  alternative 
for content on the web. Over time, we=E2=80=99ve seen helper apps evolve to 
become plugins, and more recently, have seen many of these plugin capabilities 
get incorporated into open web standards. Today, most browser vendors are 
integrating capabilities once provided by plugins directly into browsers and 
deprecating plugins.

Given this progress, and in collaboration with several of our technology 
partners =E2=80=93 including Apple, Facebook, Google, Microsoft and Mozilla 
=E2=80=93 Adobe is planning to end-of-life Flash. Specifically, we will stop 
updating and distributing the Flash Player at the end of 2020 and encourage 
content creators to migrate any existing Flash content to these new open 
formats.

Several industries and businesses have been built around Flash technology 
=E2=80=93 including gaming, education and video =E2=80=93 and we remain 
committed to supporting Flash through 2020, as customers and partners put their 
migration plans into place. Adobe will continue to support Flash on a number of 
major OSs and browsers that currently support Flash content through the planned 
EOL. This will include issuing regular security patches, maintaining OS and 
browser compatibility and adding features and capabilities as needed. We remain 
fully committed to working with partners, including Apple, Facebook, Google, 
Microsoft and Mozilla to maintain the security and compatibility of Flash 
content. [To see each partner=E2=80=99s announcement on this news, click on the 
links inside each partner name.] In addition, we plan to move more aggressively 
to EOL Flash in certain geographies where unlicensed and outdated versions of 
Flash Player are being distributed.

Adobe will also remain at the forefront of leading the development of new web 
standards and actively participate in their advancement. This includes 
continuing to contribute to the HTML5 standard and participating in the 
WebAssembly Community Group. And we=E2=80=99ll continue to provide best in 
class animation and video tools such as Animate CC, the premier web animation 
tool for developing HTML5 content, and Premiere Pro CC.

Looking ahead, Adobe will continue to provide the best tools and services for 
designers and developers to create amazing content for the web.