Adobe has been playing a huge role in interactivity and creative contents on the World Wide Web. But as the web advances, things should be played well.
When new things come, some old things somehow become obsolete.
The web evolves. And as new formats were adapted by the whole web and became the essential parts of the internet, Adobe is ending the once was popular Flash.
Open standards like like HTML5, WebGL and WebAssembly have all matured, and are seen to be more capable with functionalities and plugins to be a viable alternative for contents of the web, replacing Flash.
Specifically, Adobe will stop updating and distributing the Flash Player at the end of 2020, and encourage content creators to migrate any of their existing Flash contents to use newer open formats.
Adobe gives Flash another few years because the company acknowledges that many industries and businesses have been built around Flash technologies. Many products, from education, videos and games, many were built using the technology. Adobe remain committed to supporting Flash throughout 2020 as people migrate to newer technologies.
This isn't the first time that Flash is wanted dead. Reports of Flash's death happened because many vendors stop, or just won't use the technology.
Google has been killing Flash in its Chrome web browser, so is Mozilla and Microsoft. Facebook announced that it is migrating its Flash-based games to open web standards like HTML5. Apple’s Webkit team said the company’s customers might not even notice a difference, as Flash hasn’t come pre-installed on Macs devices since 2010, Safari even asks users' permission before running any Flash content. What's more, Apple's iOS devices never even supported it at all.
Because Flash technology seems to be stuck in time somehow, Adobe is also finally seeing the end of Flash
Adobe continues to support Flash on a number of major operating systems and browsers that still support Flash content through the planned end-of-life. The supports include regular security patches, maintaining OS and browser compatibility and adding features and capabilities as needed.
While big tech companies and organizations like Google, Facebook, Apple, Mozilla and Microsoft are all ditching Flash, Adobe remains fully committed to working with them to maintain security and compatibility of Flash contents.
And in addition to that, to pursue people to adopt newer technologies to replace Flash, Adobe plans to move more aggressively to end Flash in certain geographies where unlicensed and outdated versions of Flash Player are being distributed. It will also continue to contribute to the HTML5 standards and participating in the WebAssembly Community Group.