Flash : Once widely deployed, now discontinued

Flash

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Adobe's Flash technology, once a key element in web development for its ability to deliver rich multimedia content, was officially discontinued by Adobe on December 31, 2020. Adobe also ceased to issue security updates for Flash and encouraged users to uninstall the software.

The phasing out of Flash was announced by Adobe in July 2017, giving web developers and users over three years to prepare for the change. This decision was supported by major tech companies like Apple, Google, Microsoft, and Mozilla, which also phased out support for Flash in their web browsers.

The decline of Flash was driven by several factors:

  1. Security Issues: Flash was often targeted by hackers and it had many known security vulnerabilities. This led to regular patches and fixes, and the overall perception that Flash was a security risk.
  2. Performance and Battery Life: Flash was known for its high CPU usage, which could slow down performance and drain battery life on laptops and mobile devices.
  3. Lack of Mobile and Cross-Platform Support: Flash was not supported on iOS devices, which made up a substantial portion of the mobile market. Android initially supported Flash, but this support was dropped in 2012.
  4. Rise of Open Standards: Over time, open web standards like HTML5, CSS3, and JavaScript evolved to deliver the same multimedia capabilities that Flash offered but with better performance and security. These technologies are also inherently cross-platform, working on any device with a modern web browser.

After the end of 2020, content creators had to migrate their Flash content to new technologies if they hadn't done so already. Today, the web largely relies on more modern, efficient, and secure technologies for multimedia content.