Josh Hendrickson
If you’re trying to access anything Flash-related today, first off, why? But secondly, it’s probably not working. That’s because Adobe cut off support for Flash at the end of 2020, and while it plans to block Flash starting on January 12, major browsers aren’t waiting. Beginning January 1, most browsers will block Flash entirely, as will Microsoft in most versions of Windows. Flash is dead, as it should be.
If nothing else, Steve Jobs was often ahead of his time and brought about change through touchscreens and other design revolutions. Another notch on his belt is the early doom of Flash. After his highly publicized “Thoughts on Flash” criticizing the platform, it never really recovered.
And that’s fine! HTML5 essentially replaced Flash years ago, and every major browser supports it. But it does feel like a cultural loss. A decade or so ago, graphic designers spent months mastering Flash to create sites, games, and more. It brought us entertaining content like Homestar Runner (ok, let’s be honest, Strong Bad), Ishkur’s Guide To Electronic Music, and more. Some of those sites still work best in Flash.
But they’ll either have to update or get left behind, and even Homestar Runner seems to be adapting through its YouTube channel. Flash is ultimately an insecure protocol, and we’re better off without it. But it’s ok to remember where the internet started as we look ahead to where it’s going.
Source: Adobe
