Adobe Flash Player End Of Life (EOL) Information
THREAT Since Adobe will no longer be supporting Flash Player after 31 December 2020 and Adobe will block Flash content from running in Flash Player beginning 12 January 2021. Flash Player may remain on your system unless you uninstall it. Uninstalling Flash Player will help to secure your system since Adobe does not intend to issue Flash Player updates or security patches after the EOL Date. Adobe will block Flash content from running in Flash Player beginning 12 January 2021 and the major browser vendors will continue to disable Flash Player from running after the EOL Date.
ADVICE 👉Adobe strongly recommends all users immediately uninstall Flash Player to help protect their systems. 👉Click “Uninstall” when prompted by Adobe in Flash Player or follow the manual uninstall instructions for Windows and Mac users. 👉All software, including device operating systems, will eventually become out of date, after which point - ideally - it should not be used. 👉Visit: https://www.ncsc.gov.uk/…/managing-the-risks-from-obsolete-…
What is Adobe Flash?
Adobe Flash Player is software used to stream and view video, audio and multimedia and Rich Internet Applications (RIA) on a computer or supported mobile device. Flash Player was originally created by Macromedia, but is now developed and distributed by Adobe Systems Inc.
Flash Player runs SWF files, an Adobe Flash file format for displaying "animated" vector graphics on the Web. SWF file formats allow audio, video and several other possible forms of interaction with the end user. Once files are created, they can be played by the Adobe Flash Player, working either as a browser plugin or as a standalone player.
A Tribute to some common Flash Games from the late 1990's through 2020
Why is it gone?
Open standards such as HTML5, WebGL, and Web Assembly have continually matured over the years and serve as viable alternatives for Flash content. Also, major browser vendors are integrating these open standards into their browsers and deprecating most other plug-ins (like Flash Player). See Flash Player EOL announcements from Apple, Facebook, Google, Microsoft and Mozilla.
By providing more than three years’ advance notice, Adobe believes that there has been sufficient time for developers, designers, businesses, and other parties to migrate Flash content to new standards. The EOL timing was in coordination with some of the major browser vendors.
What is EOL?
EOL or "End of Life" is a term used by software vendors indicating that it is ending or limiting it’s support on the product and/or version to shift focus on their newer products and/or version. Most vendors define a product lifecycle which consists of several phases during which a product moves where ‘end-of-life’ usually means the last phase (depending on the software vendor). These phases will determine the type of support it’s customers will receive. Examples are maintenance (software updates and security patches) and troubleshooting.
Should I remove it? (YES!)
Flash Player may remain on your system unless you uninstall it. Uninstalling Flash Player will help secure your system since Adobe will not issue Flash Player updates or security patches after the EOL Date. Adobe blocked Flash content from running in Flash Player beginning January 12, 2021 and the major browser vendors have disabled and will continue to disable Flash Player from running after the EOL Date.