This little note that popped up in Chrome browser reminded me to remind you that the end is coming for Flash Player.
Not only will browsers like Chrome stop supporting Flash. The company that distributes the popular platform is also pulling the plug on December 31, 2020.
If you’re not familiar with Flash, it’s a type of software that allows you watch videos, listen to audio, and use other multimedia content.
For example, many games were built on the Flash platform. A lot of websites use it for forms. Unfortunately, there were a lot of security issues associated with Flash. Hackers exploited flaws in the platform to launch attacks.
This means that end of the line for many popular games and perhaps the end for some websites. There are lots of other platforms out there now that do what Flash did, but you can’t just flip a switch and change from Flash to HTML5. The entire game or site would need to be rebuilt.
If you check out the Pogo game site, you’ll see that a number of titles are scheduled to be retired.
For some developers, it’s just not worth the time and money. Previously, older versions of Flash were available on Adobe’s website if you wanted to still run programs that don’t work in newer versions. Those older versions of the program won’t be available from Adobe. And they warn users about getting them from third-party sources.
For most of us, it will be an inconvenience to lose something we’ve enjoyed. But if your business or organization relies on Flash to display content or for forms, you only have a few short months to find an alternative.