Flash is gone – What now?


    Flash Player’s technology has been used for web applications or multimedia presentations, advertising banners, animations, games, and video and audio playback on web pages since 1995. Many of you know that Flash technology is needed for webinars and flash games on websites.

    However, it was announced long ago that from 2021 browsers would not support Flash anymore. And on December 31, 2020, this technology was laid to rest. Well-known browsers Google, Opera, Mozilla, Edge, Yandex disabled in their browsers Flash support and will completely switch to HTML5.

    Despite the actual “death” of Flash, according to w3techs, about 2.3% of sites in the world still use this technology.

    What is HTML5?

    HTML is the language of marking web pages on the World Wide Web.

    The HTML code is interpreted by browsers, resulting from the interpretation of the site page displayed on the screen of a computer or mobile device.

    HTML4 requires Adobe Flash, but the next HTML5 standard (created in 2013) has media built-in, and Flash is no longer needed. There are both standards before Flash is turned off.

    Switch to HTML5 – browsers already support new technology

    In January 2021, browsers will continue to support HTML5 technology and disable the outdated Flash Player. You can see if your browser supports HTML5 technology on different websites.

    Over time, Google browser will support HTML5 100%. Each browser has its own pace of development, leading browsers Google, Opera, Mozilla, Edge, Yandex are about the same state of support for HTML5

    Who will be affected as Flash is gone?

    This is a very interesting question that requires thorough analysis. A lot of Flash games may simply go “extinct” after the system is gone because some of them are only able to run with the help of Flash.

    Taking a look at some of the available Flash games, it was quite a hit with Canadian developers. It was not just development as well, Canadians played a lot of Flash games in their spare time. The most popular, or notable ones we should say, were the games provided by local online casinos. They have already taken a hit, but not the biggest one. This will especially take a toll on Bitcoin casino sites in the country. Because most of the reliable Bitcoin casino sites in Canada offer their games in Flash, it’s likely for traffic to drop for them, forcing the websites to quickly find alternative methods for their customers or invest heavily in a fully iOS-friendly application.

    Turning off Flash Player

    Flash content on the sites will no longer be played. In the best interest of these sites, switch to HTML5 or use Flash Player replacement technology (such as the Ruffle project).

    After Flash is shut down, the sites will switch to new technology and work well in HTML5. For example, various Flash games sites offer to download an application to install on the computer to play Flash games of this service, some games are transferred to another site running without Flash, in addition, your favorite Flash game can be downloaded to the computer.

    However, the Internet will remain an archive of Flash applications, and users will be able to open it without special programs. 

    What should the user do?

    The only thing to do is remove Flash from your computer for your own security (check in the Programs installed on your computer Flash Player – if there is, remove) because this technology has vulnerabilities for hacker attacks and can significantly compromise your computer.

    After that, no more special action is needed. You can continue to work with sites, as usual, all services should work after the Flash Player is disabled.

    For example, Google Chrome currently has several extensions that are trying to replace Flash content: Flash Player – SWF to HTML and SuperNova. These extensions define Flash on the page and allow you to run in a separate emulator window.

    Flash Player – SWF to HTML detects Flash content and plays Adobe Animate (Flash) SWF objects in a Java emulator without Adobe Flash Player plug-in.

    Bottom line

    There are no obvious Flash Player replacements for the browser. This technology will stop working, sites are switching to new technology or are releasing special applications to install on the computer. The 25-year era which we have witnessed from Flash will go away. It is saddening for many people, but technologies are getting older and it is always a good idea to replace them with new ones. There will be more extensions that will be released when Flash is disconnected.

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