# Ding dong, the Flash is dead!



## drhowarddrfine (Dec 2, 2015)

> we encourage content creators to build with new web standards


Adobe finally said it. They already told developers to quit using Flash on mobile a few years ago. Now they're saying to move on from Flash everywhere, effectively killing it for future development for everyone except those on Reddit who will continue to develop new things with it for the next 20 years just like some Microsoft companies still create content using the (also dead) Silverlight.


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## tingo (Dec 2, 2015)

So far the only thing they have really done (apart from talking) is renaming their animation application.
Talk is cheap, actions are the things that really counts.
Let's revisit this thread when Adobe stops selling tools that can create Flash.


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## drhowarddrfine (Dec 2, 2015)

When someone who is selling a product, tells you not to use their own product anymore, that's a statement one should take as more than "talk is cheap". Adobe already has stopped development of Flash on mobile. That leaves the desktop and, now, they're saying to quit doing that.

I would not consider using Flash for any new development.


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## usdmatt (Dec 2, 2015)

Where do they say their customers should stop creating Flash content?


> Flash continues to be used in key categories like web gaming and premium video, where new standards have yet to fully mature. Moving forward, Adobe is committed to working with industry partners, as we have with Microsoft and Google, to help ensure the ongoing compatibility and security of Flash content.



They've just renamed Adobe Flash to Adobe Animate, because it can export in Flash/HTML5/WebGL/Video, and at least a 1/3 of users these days are using it to create Non-Flash content, so the old name didn't make much sense anymore.

Not that I'm personally a fan of Flash myself however.


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## drhowarddrfine (Dec 2, 2015)

usdmatt said:


> Where do they say their customers should stop creating Flash content?





> we encourage content creators to build with new web standards


Take that hint along with Adobe stopping development of Flash on mobile over four years ago.


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## usdmatt (Dec 2, 2015)

They've never told their customers to 'quit using flash' and probably won't until they have absolutely have to (Like they did with mobile - Apple flat out refused to support it, forcing pretty much all mobile developers to find alternatives. I think Android were itching to drop it as well). The point where desktops start actively stopping to support it is nowhere in sight, and contrary to a seemingly popular belief, Adobe aren't going to actively shutter it themselves.

They just want to be seen to be embracing newer technologies. I suspect half the reason for the name change is because Flash has such a bad name that people are actively trying to avoid the software and finding other ways to create interactive web sites. By calling it Animate and playing on the new technology support they pull more users in, until you suddenly find you've used features that are only supported if you export in Flash.


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## drhowarddrfine (Dec 3, 2015)

usdmatt said:


> By calling it Animate and playing on the new technology support they pull more users in, until you suddenly find you've used features that are only supported if you export in Flash.


The only place you used to see Flash is mobile and desktop. Mobile has surpassed desktop usage on the internet according to Google and Adobe has stopped all development for Flash on mobile. No web developer worth his salt would attempt to use it there. So more than half of that market is gone forever.

You are also ignoring the problems with Flash. It needs a plugin to run, it's large and compute intensive.  The reason Apple dropped it altogether is cause it weighed phone operations down and took up too much memory. It's a pig. This is the reason people want to get rid of Flash.

Now Adobe "encourages" users to use the new web standards and not Flash for that other less than half of the market. How is this a good marketing strategy for gaining users in a dwindling market place?

Now, I run a web development company. I have not seen Flash used for anything with the business we have acquired in 11 years of doing this. Specifically, our customers ask about our animation expertise in all the current technologies and *never* about Flash. Mention Flash and I'd get laughed out of the room!

Add to that, as I said earlier, most of the time, canvas and javascript and CSS do everything we need anyway. There is no need for Flash to do most of  these things anymore.


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## Beastie7 (Dec 3, 2015)

In before they rebrand flash and tell everyone it's the new hotness.


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## sidetone (Dec 3, 2015)

It's a sign of Flash losing success, but it's not a guarantee because they're trying to replace it with some other useless program that brings in proven protocols into it. Those protocols don't need Flash. They've milked the useless Flash as long as they can by marketing and without innovation. I believe they still will milk what's left of it.

I hate Flash. When I installed the Linux emulator to run it, Flash destabilized my computer, replaced the regular cursor with some weird vertical dashed cursor, it also made my computer shut off every 2 minutes. My computer shutting off was from another underlying problem, but it wasn't often.


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## Carpetsmoker (Dec 3, 2015)

Until such a time that I can disable HTML5 video autoplaying *in any browser*, I prefer Flash. At least I can disable that.


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