Adobe Flash is Dead Here’s What That Means

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Jarretera/ShutterstockSupport for Adobe Flash officially ended on December 31, 2020, effectively killing off the platform. The now-discontinued web plugin will be remembered for its golden era of animated internet memes and the endless security problems that eventually led to its demise. Let’s take a look back at Flash, what’s next, and how to enjoy the old content in 2021 and beyond. Flash is Going Away ForeverFlash is no longer available to download since December 31, 2020, and Adobe starts blocking Flash content from running altogether on January 12, 2021. The company recommends that you uninstall Flash entirely as a matter of security. There will be no more updates to Flash, nor will you be able to download old versions directly from Adobe. This also means that versions of Flash bundled with browsers like Google Chrome will be retired. The change is unlikely to affect your daily browsing habits since the vast majority of websites have stopped using Flash in favor of modern browser technologies. You should avoid installing any older versions of Flash Player on security grounds. If you still want to access Flash content, there are options, but none of them are officially supported by Adobe. The History of Adobe Flash (1996-2020)In 1996, a company called Macromedia acquired a vector-based web animation tool called FutureSplash, originally released by FutureWave Software in 1993. The technology was already in use by companies like Microsoft and Disney Online to display animated content in a web browser. Macromedia rebranded the tool as Macromedia Flash 1.0 and released it alongside a counterpart browser plugin called Macromedia Flash Player. By the mid-2000s, Flash had taken off in a big way, spurred on by the popularity of browser games, animations, and interactive tools that relied on it. Flash was able to rise to prominence thanks to the simplicity of installing a small plugin that was compatible with most browsers. Since Flash used vector-based graphics, file sizes for the resulting animations were tiny. This was important at a time when many people were using dial-up internet with slow download speeds. RELATED: What's the Difference Between Pixels and Vectors? Vector graphics are essentially text-based instructions. They scale infinitely since they have no defined size, unlike raster graphics which have much larger file sizes and will pixellate when stretched. Flash enabled creators, marketers, and anyone with an eye for new media to create games, animations, banner adverts, interactive menus. It was even used to make entire websites that looked great for the time, were fast to load, and responsive to use. MacromediaMacromedia added more bells and whistles to Flash over time. In 2000, Flash 5 was released with ActionScript, a rudimentary scripting language that closely mimics JavaScript. In 2005, Macromedia was acquired by Adobe Systems (the same company that turned down an offer to buy FutureSplash in 1995).

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