42 replies to this topic 1 votes

[+Mephistopheles]

Chrome only future for Flash on Linux

Adobe has announced that in future, the Flash Player for Linux will only be available through Google as part of the Google Chrome browser and not as a standalone download. The shipped plugin will also only support Chrome's plugin API. The changes will take effect after the release of Flash Player 11.2 later this year.

In a blog posting, Adobe said it had been working with Google on developing a replacement for the Netscape plug-in API that Flash Player currently uses, called PPAPI or Pepper. Pepper is designed to be a single modern API for plugins within the browser with an effective abstraction layer hiding the different types of browser and API.

Adobe has worked with Google on this as Flash Player is one of the more complex plug-ins available and the partnership is leading to Google providing a "Pepper" API-based Flash Player with Google Chrome on all x86 32- and 64-bit platforms, including Linux, later this year. Google already embeds its own Flash Player in the Chrome browser and works closely with Adobe to ensure it receives security updates for Chrome's Flash at the same time.

Adobe has therefore also announced that after the release of Flash Player 11.2, the Flash Player browser plug-in for Linux will only be available with the "Pepper" API and only as part of the Google Chrome distribution. It will discontinue the availability of direct downloads of the Flash Player for Linux, but says it will continue to provide security updates for the non-Pepper versions of Flash Player 11.2 for Linux for five years after its release. The move only affects Linux platforms; Adobe will continue to support non-"Pepper" plugin APIs on all other platforms.

It would appear that this change would freeze Mozilla Firefox's Flash support on Linux at Flash Player 11.2. Mozilla has previously said it is "not interested in or working on Pepper at this time".

Source: The H Open Source
Link: Adobe Blog posting

[Vice]

I like that Adobe is basically killing flash on their own so the rest of the world doesn't need to.

First they drop it on mobile now they are dropping linux. Looks like they are not focusing on growing Flash adoption but instead just focusing on Windows and OS X. I wouldn't be surprised if their next announcement in 6 months from now would be the dropping of Flash support on OS X to only the Chrome browser and then eventually putting the Windows version on EOL notice with mere security updates.

Adobes shift away from Flash is great in my opinion. I'm sure when some developers like Boz see this they will say Linux doesn't matter anyway or that Chromes growing market share makes this loss no big deal.

[.Neo]

In all honesty

Vice, on 22 February 2012 - 12:13, said:

Looks like they are not focusing on growing Flash adoption but instead just focusing on Windows and OS X.

In all honestly the Linux desktop market share isn't really going anywhere so Adobe probably doesn't loose much by dropping it.

[Vice]

.Neo, on 22 February 2012 - 13:19, said:

In all honesty
In all honestly the Linux desktop market share isn't really going anywhere so Adobe probably doesn't loose much by dropping it.

Did you read my whole post though? If this was a company that wanted Flash to be a word in everyone's vocabulary they would continue to support Linux. A platform that has more users now than it has ever had period. If it made sense for them to support it years ago that decision should be even more valid today.

And when this decision is weighed with the decision they made last year to completely pull Flash from the mobile space, dropping android support (Which is Linux and has 100's of millions of users) it kind of shows a pattern that they are giving up on Flash.

All of what I'm talking about is Flash in the browser. I'm not talking about their Adobe Air or what-not.

[monkey13]

I was thinking the other day if they are killing it before it is killed? Won't HTML5 kill it anyway?

It is going to have to be supported as default by all the browsers.

I just can't see where else they could possibly be going with this. No mobile version? When that is the fastest growing platform in the market. Seems like madness to me.

[Breakthrough]

Quote

says it will continue to provide security updates for the non-Pepper versions of Flash Player 11.2 for Linux for five years after its release. The move only affects Linux platforms; Adobe will continue to support non-"Pepper" plugin APIs on all other platforms.

Well that's just non-sensical... They're adopting a particular API for a particular browser in an open-source environment?

/me waits for NonAdobeFlashLite

[+ViperAFK]

Well I hope they start ****ing including it with 64 bit chrome then... Currently ONLY the 32 bit version of chrome on linux includes flash.

[+Kreuger]

There's already talk of the API being added to Firefox so this shouldn't be an issue. Plus HTML5 is improving (so I hear).

[.Neo]

Vice, on 22 February 2012 - 13:26, said:

Did you read my whole post though? If this was a company that wanted Flash to be a word in everyone's vocabulary they would continue to support Linux. A platform that has more users now than it has ever had period. If it made sense for them to support it years ago that decision should be even more valid today.

Adobe is still a commercial company and if it turns out that the resources put into keeping Flash on Linux alive isn't worth its while it will get axed. That's what I think happened here.

ViperAFK, on 22 February 2012 - 15:58, said:

Well I hope they start ****ing including it with 64 bit chrome then... Currently ONLY the 32 bit version of chrome on linux includes flash.

I can run Safari in 64-bit while using 32-bit plugins. Why won't other browsers go the same route?

[+Glassed Silver]

Kreuger, on 22 February 2012 - 16:00, said:

There's already talk of the API being added to Firefox so this shouldn't be an issue. Plus HTML5 is improving (so I hear).

Good to know I can play all my favorite games on Miniclip without Flash.

Oh wait

Glassed Silver:mac

[+c3ntury]

Vice, on 22 February 2012 - 12:13, said:

I like that Adobe is basically killing flash on their own so the rest of the world doesn't need to.

Saves us the trouble anyway.

But I'm genuinely surprised at this news though, and it looks like Flash on Linux is now completely dependent on Google's viewpoint on the matter.

[Syanide]

Don't care. I figure by the time they drop it everything I use via Flash (I had to think really hard about this and nothing but video sites pops up) will either be HTML5 or will continue to work with current Flash anyway (I doubt anyone in a couple of years will use it as a development platform of choice).

[_Heracles]

Ouch, without Chrome, Desktop Linux won't have a media supporting browser.
Then again, Linux is not a media OS. Boot into Windows if you want to enjoy movies.

[+Glassed Silver]

_Heracles, on 22 February 2012 - 23:45, said:

Ouch, without Chrome, Desktop Linux won't have a media supporting browser.
Then again, Linux is not a media OS. Boot into Windows if you want to enjoy movies.

Linux is not a media OS

is not a media OS

not a media OS

not media OS

Glassed Silver:mac

[.Neo]

_Heracles, on 22 February 2012 - 23:45, said:

Then again, Linux is not a media OS. Boot into Windows if you want to enjoy movies.

You're doing something wrong if you're watching your movies through Flash.