[PCWorld]

Post your comments for Android Flash Player RIP: How to Get it Now That it's Gone here

[RobertShowalter]

There's a fork in the road here -- forcing the world to move on with new tech or supporting legacy. Both get us where we're ultimately going, but one arguably takes longer to get there.

This could be seen for example with the Windows 9x series that supported 16-bit DOS to help users migrate to the new Windows world. By the time NT became the new, better, more stable and useful kernel for home unsers (under the name of XP), DOS support was extremely limited. But this was OK since most had moved on to proper Win32 apps that supported all kinds of nice features and integrated better.

The problem with Flash is it's still out there, quite massively. Even on YouTube there's several videos that don't have an HTML5 compatible version. Apple tried to tell the world Flash wasn't needed when it first pushed the iPad, but that's just a lie. Flash permeated the Internet over the last 10+ years in a way that we're very dependent on it. If for nothing else, it made for the standard way to stream videos on a website.

This doesn't mean that websites should ignore the call to move on to HTML5, since this seems to be the "in thing", but for Adobe to just drop Flash is just needless cruelty that will for a while degrade web experiences on non-PC platforms.

[Inverse137]

vhs/beta blue ray/HDDVD HTML5/Flash...another battle settled by the porn industry.

[frunobulax]

Where are the Flash apologists? They claim Flash is the reason to buy Android. They claim iOS is a walled garden. They claim everything on the web is Flash and iOS users don't get to see the "complete Internet" because iOS does not support Flash. Where's your savior now?

[DaleLarmon]

I am a website developer.

I can't even get everybody to go to XHTML. XHTML has been out for over 10 years.

[LordInsidious]

frunobulax, on 15 August 2012 - 07:27 AM, said:

Where are the Flash apologists? They claim Flash is the reason to buy Android. They claim iOS is a walled garden. They claim everything on the web is Flash and iOS users don't get to see the "complete Internet" because iOS does not support Flash. Where's your savior now?

See BECAUSE it's not a walled garden you can still get Flash from Adobe, as per the article 'The best source to download a working official version of Flash player is from Adobe’s own site.'

[Thai]

frunobulax, on 15 August 2012 - 07:27 AM, said:

Where are the Flash apologists? They claim Flash is the reason to buy Android. They claim iOS is a walled garden. They claim everything on the web is Flash and iOS users don't get to see the "complete Internet" because iOS does not support Flash. Where's your savior now?

You're misinformed, Flash is not an "only" reason to buy Android! And iOS is still a "walled garden" as I can install Flash (or any app) if I wanted to on Android. Anyway, Flash had run its course, now is HTML5.

[crosswordbob]

Article said:

[...] the experience with the plugin can be very poor.

What's new?

[matthewfabb56z1]

frunobulax, on 15 August 2012 - 07:27 AM, said:

Where are the Flash apologists? They claim Flash is the reason to buy Android.

Well, here they just described a way to load Flash onto any Android device for the foreseeable future, despite not being officially supported.

I still use Flash regularly on my Android tablet to watch the Daily Show and the Colbert Report. In Canada these are made available in Flash from the Comedy Network website and if you go via your iPad (I do own one as well) they tell you can't view the content. There's no HTML5 version, as one of the big problems with HTML5 video is the lack of DRM to avoid people from copying video files.

I guess they would rather you buy episodes of the tv show rather than watch ad-supported versions online? Still going forward, the lack of DRM on video streams is going to be a big gap for HTML5. At times they might make a custom app, but you are going to rarely if ever see that video content from tv networks and movie studios online on a website for mobile.

[SlenGypsum]

Also of note is the fact that what once was 'flash' can now be done with HTML5 (via JavaScript), but what now is 'flash' is wrapped up in the joyous run time known as AIR (flash + webkit + java + some other goodies). Flash did not 'go' anywhere - it transformed itself into a more powerful and flexible form that can now be loaded onto ANY platform as a captive run time (that includes iOS). Flash devs (like myself) are still sitting pretty because we have the tail end of the old player to ride out, the new HTML5 transition is really just JavaScript (can we say ECMA4?? aka - ActionScript 3 - aka all code under Flash & AIR) which is easy for Flash devs to code, AND we now have the AIR run time for more heavy weight application/game development which requires little effort to migrate into and contains all the power of the browser + flash + other server side tech that will continue to make for great products going forward another 2 decades or so.

[JamesVelasquez]

Ugh thank you, this will hopefully kill flash on the computer, flash is one of the prime sources of drive by and 0-day infections

[IsaiahGilliland]

We all knew flash was leaving. I just didn't expect it to happen this fast. I figured flash had another good 5-10 years at least. But already it looks like the casket is being laid out.

[LordInsidious]

crosswordbob, on 15 August 2012 - 07:53 AM, said:

Article said:

[...] the experience with the plugin can be very poor.

What's new?

This part:

Article said:

installed on more than 100 million Android devices, according to Google Play Stats, and it has 4.3 stars as an average rating.

Kind of contradicts the speculation with a facts, not saying it's perfect but show me software that is.

[Johnuup2]

JamesVelasquez, on 15 August 2012 - 08:02 AM, said:

Ugh thank you, this will hopefully kill flash on the computer, flash is one of the prime sources of drive by and 0-day infections

Adobe is not dropping flash support for pc's.

[FrillArtist]

frunobulax, on 15 August 2012 - 07:27 AM, said:

Where are the Flash apologists? They claim Flash is the reason to buy Android. They claim iOS is a walled garden. They claim everything on the web is Flash and iOS users don't get to see the "complete Internet" because iOS does not support Flash. Where's your savior now?

Typical iFan response. When HTML 5 was pretty much non existent, yes, "Flash was the complete web". Not it makes no sense as a lot of sites are now moving on to HTML 5. With or without Flash, there are still far more reasons to go Android over iOS. And yes, iOS is still a walled garden.

[crosswordbob]

The grand irony here is that when using the default browser (Chrome) on my Nexus 7, I have far more issues with video than I get on my iPad. For example, while the BBC are quite happy to detect that I have an iPad and serve it working video, on the Nexus I get "this content requires Flash". Go figure.

[RegorTheGreat]

hebonix, on 15 August 2012 - 08:40 AM, said:

Android is for poor people.

This is the precisely what Apple wants you to believe. You end up paying more for your Apple products because all the money is spent on advertising...and they do a damn good job at making people believe this. Unfortunately, cheap (low end) Android hardware really makes Apple look good in this respect.

[HacimLlih]

crosswordbob, on 15 August 2012 - 08:32 AM, said:

The grand irony here is that when using the default browser (Chrome) on my Nexus 7, I have far more issues with video than I get on my iPad. For example, while the BBC are quite happy to detect that I have an iPad and serve it working video, on the Nexus I get "this content requires Flash". Go figure.

Seriously sir? LOL.. You did NOT mention any other websites that failed you on your garden wall ladder sir.. eh.. I mean.. *on your iFad sir.. I already know due fact my little bro is an APB alum (ApplePhanBoi) .. and has found in recent times issues on his iFad that Android does better..

Honestly.. for my #TwoSense sir, Apple has some wonderful pros | cons just like Android does.. P E R I O D!

I just come down in my evangelistic Android fan status on the side of the 'light' of open source development.. both in the tech world and as a fan of 'Type-B Corporation' mindsets and business models in general. I am proudly a #NinetyNinePercent alum here & not a fan of 'profit #1' #Corporatocracies and their subsequent #PatentTroll & #OnePercentCrimes & greed-driven proprietary development from inside their #WalledGardens by proxy.

tech9iner

[LiveBrianD]

crosswordbob, on 15 August 2012 - 08:32 AM, said:

The grand irony here is that when using the default browser (Chrome) on my Nexus 7, I have far more issues with video than I get on my iPad. For example, while the BBC are quite happy to detect that I have an iPad and serve it working video, on the Nexus I get "this content requires Flash". Go figure.

I've noticed other badly designed sites like that, like hotmail - they STILL haven't fixed the issue where, if you use Firefox or Chrome, you get the legacy version. (I have to use the stock browser for that.) Really guys, really?

[crosswordbob]

HacimLlih, on 15 August 2012 - 11:19 AM, said:

crosswordbob, on 15 August 2012 - 08:32 AM, said:

The grand irony here is that when using the default browser (Chrome) on my Nexus 7, I have far more issues with video than I get on my iPad. For example, while the BBC are quite happy to detect that I have an iPad and serve it working video, on the Nexus I get "this content requires Flash". Go figure.

Seriously sir? LOL.. You did NOT mention any other websites that failed you on your garden wall ladder sir.. eh.. I mean.. *on your iFad sir.. I already know due fact my little bro is an APB alum (ApplePhanBoi) .. and has found in recent times issues on his iFad that Android does better..

I couldn't care less what your brother has found, I have found my iPad tends to handle the sites I visit more reliably than my Nexus. I made no claim that this is a general rule, nor that anyone else would necessarily encounter the same; I merely stated my own experience.

Now I'd be happy to discuss the subject further, but only with someone who spells like a grown-up.