Microsoft’s permanent removal of Flash Player from Windows devices sparks web complaints Several users want the decision to be up to users

#In 2017, #Adobe announced that at the end of 2020 support for #Flash #Player, its browser plug-in that also lets you run #Rich #Internet #Application (RIA) content on browsers, will be discontinued. #To justify its decision, #Adobe explained that since open standards like HTML5, #WebGL and #WebAssembly have flourished in recent years, most [de ces standards] now offer several possibilities and features that plugins have launched and have become a viable alternative for content on the web. #Over time, we have seen helper applications evolve into plugins, and more recently several of these plug-in functionality have been incorporated into open web standards. #Today, most browser vendors build functionality that was provided only by plug-ins directly into browsers and make plug-ins obsolete. #In addition to these reasons, there are several performance, stability and safety issues that have been attributed to the plug-in.

#Since #Adobe’s announcement, browser vendors have respectively started their process of abandoning the #Flash plug-in. #Firefox, for example, started by blocking the default activation of #Flash, and #Microsoft did not even wait for #Adobe’s declarations to start blocking #Flash content executed by default in its #Edge #Legacy browser. #Chrome did the same by asking for the user’s permission to run #Flash in the browser.

#With the year 2020 approaching quickly, #Microsoft made the following statements last #October:

• #Adobe #Flash #Player will no longer be supported on #December 31, 2020;
• applying this update will remove #Adobe #Flash #Player from your #Windows device;
• #After this update is applied, this update cannot be uninstalled;
• #We are releasing this removal update prior to end of support to help customers test and validate their environments for any impact that may arise from removing #Adobe #Flash #Player. #Additionally, if another security update for #Adobe #Flash #Player is released, customers who use that removal update will still be offered the security update.

#If for some reason you need to use #Adobe #Flash #Player on your device again after installing this update, #Microsoft recommends that you use one of the following methods:

• #Method 1: #Reset your device to an earlier system restore point. #This feature must be explicitly enabled and a #System #Restore point must have been created on your #Windows device before applying this update;
• #Method 2: #Reinstall your #Windows operating system, but do not apply this update.

#Obviously, for many users, this decision by #Microsoft to remove the #Flash plug-in from #Windows devices without the possibility of reinstalling it elicits strong reactions. #Indeed, for many #Internet users, this shows, if this was not already the case, that you no longer really own your computer. #Another user adds that it’s one thing to shut down servers that are being used by an online service (and there is a lot of bad talk about it already), but it’s another thing to reach everyone’s machines. and remove what they don’t want!

#To anticipate this type of reaction, #Microsoft had already specified, when declaring the final revocation of #Flash on #Windows devices, that the #Windows 10 update only removes #Adobe #Flash #Player which was installed by the #Windows system. #If you installed #Adobe #Flash #Player manually from another source, it will not be removed.

#But these words are not intended to calm users who argue that #Microsoft should let users themselves decide whether to remove or leave #Flash on their devices. #In comparison, one user explains that it is as if #Microsoft decides to erase all traces of MS-DOS on devices when people have spent countless hours and efforts and built many applications on this platform. #And even if users don’t expect the editor to support the tool forever, the commenter says, they at least expect the tool to be usable all the time. #For another user, even if it is about the removal of the #Flash plug-in installed by #Windows, it is as if after deciding to no longer support #Flash after 2020, #Adobe deleted all instances of the #Flash plug-in after the 31st date. #December 2020 without asking for user feedback.

#As for #Adobe, with the end of support date for #Flash approaching, the company began sending alerts to users who installed the #Flash plug-in on their #Windows devices a while ago, reminding them that support #Flash will no longer be supported after 2020 and offering them to uninstall #Flash. #If you have #Flash #Player installed on your device, the plug-in creates a scheduled task named #Adobe #Flash #Player PPAPI #Notifier which runs the following command: “C: #Windows #SysWOW64 #Macromed #Flash #FlashUtil32_32_0_0_465_pepper.exe” -update pepperplugin. #When this command is run, it displays an alert thanking users for using #Adobe #Flash #Player, and then recommending that they uninstall the program due to its impending end of life.

#Source: #Microsoft

#And you ?

#What do you think of the controversy created around the permanent removal of #Flash with the #Windows 10 update?

#After #Flash support ends, will you continue to use #Flash? #Why ?

#See as well

#Adobe confirms the end of #Flash #Player support for #December 31, 2020, what #Flash alternatives do you recommend?
#Web development: what alternatives do you recommend as the end of support for #Flash approaches? #Adobe abandons the plugin at the end of 2020
#Google #Ends #Search #Engine #Support for #Flash #Content at #End of #Current #Year: #No #More #Indexing of #Stand-Alone #Swf #Files, #Company #Says
#Mozilla will disable #Flash plugin by default in #Firefox 69 according to its roadmap, with complete removal of support scheduled for 2020
#Death of #Flash: HTML5 will be deployed by default for some #Chrome 55 users in #January 2017, they will then have to activate #Flash manually