Adobe Flash Player

Adobe Flash Player (known in Internet Explorer, Firefox, and Google Chrome as Shockwave Flash)https://web.archive.org/web/20140525065654/http://krebsonsecurity.com/2014/05/why-you-should-ditch-adobe-shockwave/ is a discontinuedExcept in China, where it continues to be used, as well as Harman for enterprise users. computer program known for viewing multimedia content, executing rich Internet applications, and streaming audio and video content created on the Adobe Flash platform. It can run from a web browser as a browser plug-in or independently on supported devices.
It was originally created by FutureWave under the name FutureSplash Player,https://web.archive.org/web/20190323070139/http://www.coldhardflash.com/2008/02/grandmasters-of-flash-an-interview-with-the-creators-of-flash.html it was renamed to Macromedia Flash Player after Macromedia acquired FutureWave in 1996.https://web.archive.org/web/20081231084809/http://www.wired.com/science/discoveries/news/1997/01/1317 After Adobe acquired Macromedia in 2005,https://web.archive.org/web/20200421051253/https://www.nytimes.com/2005/04/19/technology/adobe-buys-macromedia-for-34-billion.html it was developed and distributed by Adobe as Adobe Flash Player. It is currently developed and distributed by Zhongcheng for users in China, and by Harman International for enterprise users outside of China, in collaboration with Adobe.
Adobe Flash once had a large user base, and was used for many web games, animations, and graphical user interface (GUI) elements embedded in web pages. Adobe stated that more than 400 million, out of over 1 billion connected desktops, updated to new versions of Flash Player within six weeks of release in 2013. However, it was criticized for poor performance, consumption of battery on mobile devices, the number of security vulnerabilities that had been discovered in the software, and its nature as a closed platform controlled by Adobe.https://web.archive.org/web/20170516170811/https://www.wired.com/2015/07/adobe-flash-player-die/
==Program==
Adobe Flash Player runs SWF file that can be created using Flash Professional, Adobe Flash Builder, or third-party tools such as FlashDevelop. Flash Player supports video and raster graphics, vector graphics, 3D graphics, embedded audio, and an object-oriented scripting language called ActionScript, which is based on ECMAScript.
==End of life==
In 2011, Adobe ended support for Flash on Android.https://web.archive.org/web/20210118031407/https://www.cnn.com/2011/11/09/tech/mobile/flash-steve-jobs/index.html In July 2017, Adobe deprecated Flash, and announced its End-Of-Life (EOL) at the end of 2020, and will cease support, distribution, and security updates for Flash Player.{{Cite web|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171202123704/https://theblog.adobe.com/adobe-flash-update/|title="Flash & The Future of Interactive Content"
With Flash's EOL announced, many web browsers took steps to gradually restrict Flash content. They also give a caution to users before launching it and eventually block all Flash content without an option to play it. In January 2021, all major browsers were blocking all Flash content unconditionally. Only IE11, niche browser forks, and some browsers built for China plan to continue support. Furthermore, excluding the China variant of Flash, Flash execution software has a built-in kill switch which prevents it from playing Flash after January 12, 2021.https://www.zdnet.com/article/adobe-to-block-flash-content-from-running-on-january-12-2021/ 
After Flash's EOL, Adobe Flash will still be supported in China and some specialized enterprise platforms outside of China.https://web.archive.org/web/20210114045200/https://www.flash.cn/notice/notice?id=143 There are some web browser extensions that were published after Flash's EOL, such as Ruffle and Flash Player for Chrome (2023).
==Notes==
==See Also==
*Adobe Flash in Wikipedia
==References==
Category:Web software