Tell me about Flash

Bob001 · 23rd December 2020, 10:16 AM

As announced long ago, Flash Player will not be supported after Dec. 31 (what it calls its "end of life date,") and will actually block Flash content starting Jan. 12. What does this mean for the user? What will web sites no longer be able to provide, and what will I no longer be able to see? Or is this already so obsolete that it's rarely used now?
https://www.adobe.com/products/flash...d-of-life.html

Thermal · 23rd December 2020, 10:19 AM

Thought this was a superhero origin story thread.

Doesn't it belong in computers?

gnome · 23rd December 2020, 10:33 AM

I have had flash completely uninstalled for years, and it is maybe once a month that I encounter something that needed it. And nothing I couldn't get elsewhere.

theprestige · 23rd December 2020, 10:42 AM

What does this mean for the user?
Not much. A lot of browsers don't support flash by default, and a lot of sites have already stopped using it anyway.

What will web sites no longer be able to provide,
Flash content. Typically some sort of graphical thing. Either a small video clip or an interactive menu or something like that. But there are many other, better, ways to provide these things now.

and what will I no longer be able to see?
Flash content.

Or is this already so obsolete that it's rarely used now?
Pretty much this.

But you can easily experiment. Just look up how to turn off Flash support in your browser of choice, and see if you notice anything different about your Internet experience over the next few weeks.

If your Internet experience includes a lot of flash-using websites, you should start seeing lots of really obvious empty spaces on websites, with a little jigsaw-puzzle icon in the middle, and a message along the lines of the content in that space needing a Flash player and do you want to enable/download/install one?

But I'm betting that in the current year you probably won't notice much of a difference at all. Chrome stopped enabling flash by default some time ago, and I can't remember when I last saw a "you need flash" message on a website.

PhantomWolf · 23rd December 2020, 01:03 PM

There are a few sites with flash games that will lose all their content, but unless you were one of those people that liked to play the older flash-based web games then there won't be a lot of change.

gnome · 23rd December 2020, 02:23 PM

Savior of the universe. He saved every one of us.

Childlike Empress · 23rd December 2020, 03:25 PM

Flash died as an important technique when Apple decided to not allow it on their platform, which was several years ago. It has always been problematic from a security point of view. Most of what it delivered can be and is been done with JavaScript and CSS3 these days, and it is what annoys you about what is happening on all these commercial sites.

a_unique_person · 29th December 2020, 12:37 PM

You are forgetting about corporations that have business critical applications that use flash and haven't updated or replaced the flash using application yet.

Childlike Empress · 29th December 2020, 08:55 PM

Originally Posted by a_unique_person

You are forgetting about corporations that have business critical applications that use flash and haven't updated or replaced the flash using application yet.

Are you talking to Adobe?

a_unique_person · 30th December 2020, 12:14 AM

No. Corporations that use applications that require flash.

plague311 · 30th December 2020, 11:26 AM

If some place is still running programs that use Flash, as a corporation or company, with almost a decade of knowledge that it was going to die, then that is on them. They should be scolded.

I tell my clients the same thing when a program that's 10+ years old is dying. You can either pay for it now and have a pretty painless transition, or wait until it becomes a fire because the software is EOL'd.

gnome · 30th December 2020, 11:34 AM

"Let me do that thing where it's my successor's budget breaking instead of mine--that's that last bit, right?"

CORed · 30th December 2020, 11:49 AM

Originally Posted by PhantomWolf

There are a few sites with flash games that will lose all their content, but unless you were one of those people that liked to play the older flash-based web games then there won't be a lot of change.

I guess Boom Boom vollyeball is gone then. The game was basically Pong (for those old enough to remember Pong) with better graphics, i.e. bikini-clad cartoon girls playing volleyball. There was even a cheat code that would change it to topless cartoon girls. This game was probably the peak of Flash technology.

CORed · 30th December 2020, 12:30 PM

Originally Posted by Childlike Empress

Flash died as an important technique when Apple decided to not allow it on their platform, which was several years ago. It has always been problematic from a security point of view. Most of what it delivered can be and is been done with JavaScript and CSS3 these days, and it is what annoys you about what is happening on all these commercial sites.

I can remember a fair number of websites that implemented in Flash, stuff that could just as well been done with html forms, with or even without a little bit of Javascript.

Matthew Best · 12th January 2021, 07:53 AM

One of the main tools we use at work (I work at a TV station) for ingesting and checking material has been down all day, because it runs on Flash. This has been a huge hassle and I've had to install and old version of Internet Explorer in order to get it to work.

I did point out that Flash was going to stop working about a year ago, and I kind of assumed that the IT department would (a) know about this and (b) do something about it. Turns out I was wrong!

plague311 · 12th January 2021, 02:34 PM

Originally Posted by Matthew Best

One of the main tools we use at work (I work at a TV station) for ingesting and checking material has been down all day, because it runs on Flash. This has been a huge hassle and I've had to install and old version of Internet Explorer in order to get it to work.

I did point out that Flash was going to stop working about a year ago, and I kind of assumed that the IT department would (a) know about this and (b) do something about it. Turns out I was wrong!

It's not a resolution by any means but one of the companies I do IT for needed a box that would run flash. I just spun up a virtual machine for the guy on VMWare Workstation that ran Windows XP...not to give anyone ideas on how to keep using Flash.

gnome · 12th January 2021, 05:09 PM

Is there a good place to get step by step instructions for setting up a VMWare Windows XP? I've tried to before but I wind up losing track of what to do next.

I don't want to use Flash, I want to play 16-bit games that don't work on 64 bit Windows 10. Stuff like Full Tilt Pinball.

plague311 · 12th January 2021, 07:02 PM

Originally Posted by gnome

Is there a good place to get step by step instructions for setting up a VMWare Windows XP? I've tried to before but I wind up losing track of what to do next.

I don't want to use Flash, I want to play 16-bit games that don't work on 64 bit Windows 10. Stuff like Full Tilt Pinball.

It's been awhile. Tracking down some form of ISO would be the toughest part, I'm pretty sure a buddy of mine had the disks when I made that one. They paid for VMWare because they were a business, but I think there are cheap free players, or maybe Workstation is free. Like I said, it's been awhile lol.

I'd think there might be an image on github somewhere. I can take a look a bit later.

Matthew Best · 13th January 2021, 07:01 AM

We ended up installing an old version of Internet Explorer, and then installing an old version of the Flash plug in so our essential software would run.

In case you're wondering, I work for Viacom/CBS.

plague311 · 13th January 2021, 07:15 AM

Originally Posted by Matthew Best

We ended up installing an old version of Internet Explorer, and then installing an old version of the Flash plug in so our essential software would run.

In case you're wondering, I work for Viacom/CBS.

Wow. As a guy that works in the IT industry it has been easier to get money, but we're usually last on the list. We've needed to upgrade our financial software since I got here almost 2 years ago, and I still haven't been given the green light.

a_unique_person · 17th January 2021, 06:49 PM

I think there's more places using Flash than would like to admit.

Dude111 · 18th January 2021, 12:10 AM

Originally Posted by theprestige

and what will I no longer be able to see?
Flash content.

I think its disgusting they think they can tell people what they can and cant use....

I have used and enjoyed flash,java and shockwave for years....... Im glad im on an older browser that lets me do WHAT I WANT!! (IE6 (MyIE2))

Thankfully I can still play flash games.... I would not like it if I couldnt.... THIS IS MY COMPUTER!!!

plague311 · 18th January 2021, 07:23 AM

Originally Posted by Dude111

*
I think its disgusting they think they can tell people what they can and cant use....

I have used and enjoyed flash,java and shockwave for years....... Im glad im on an older browser that lets me do WHAT I WANT!! (IE6 (MyIE2))

Thankfully I can still play flash games.... I would not like it if I couldnt.... THIS IS MY COMPUTER!!!

It's technically the company that is telling you not to use it. It's a security nightmare, and causes more problems than it solves. I'm glad you're standing up to the man though. It's a weird hill to fight on, in my humble opinion, but we each have our battles.

alfaniner · 18th January 2021, 07:43 AM

Well, it's a few days past the hard deadline. I haven't come across any stories of business being shut down, or even of people being mildly inconvenienced.

rjh01 · 18th January 2021, 01:49 PM

I have modern software, I browse the Internet and not noticed anything. Have I missed anything? Any links to sites that do not work as advertised?

Matthew Best · 18th January 2021, 01:54 PM

Originally Posted by alfaniner

Well, it's a few days past the hard deadline. I haven't come across any stories of business being shut down, or even of people being mildly inconvenienced.

Hello? Have you got me on ignore or something?

plague311 · 18th January 2021, 01:59 PM

Originally Posted by rjh01

I have modern software, I browse the Internet and not noticed anything. Have I missed anything? Any links to sites that do not work as advertised?

I think someone mentioned upthread, but there really aren't many websites that run on Flash. Most have switched over to HTML5 or something similar. The death of Flash has been ongoing for at least 5 years that I can remember, probably longer.

catsmate · 18th January 2021, 02:06 PM

Originally Posted by Matthew Best

We ended up installing an old version of Internet Explorer, and then installing an old version of the Flash plug in so our essential software would run.

In case you're wondering, I work for Viacom/CBS.

Sweet effing jeebus but why was this not fixed well in advance?

a_unique_person · 18th January 2021, 05:52 PM

Harman is providing a custom browser for companies that still need Flash.

Dude111 · 18th January 2021, 08:36 PM

Thats good to know!! (Lets hope they dont ruin it somehow)

Matthew Best · 18th January 2021, 09:04 PM

Originally Posted by catsmate

Sweet effing jeebus but why was this not fixed well in advance?

That is a question I have asked several times. So far I've had no sensible answer.

My best guess is that people in IT kept hoping that by the time Flash was switched off, we'd have a whole different set of software and the element that uses Flash would be obsolete already.

As the switch-off got closer, the thinking appears to have been that if we simply failed to update browsers, we could carry on using it until the software is finally replaced. And indeed, that is, in a way, what we've done (reverted to an old version of IE and instituted a patch that prevents Microsoft updates from pushing out the Adobe kill switch).

This would be embarrassing in a company that consisted of me as a sole trader. In a company with 24,000 employees it's a bit more embarrassing I would say.

plague311 · Yesterday, 07:50 AM

Originally Posted by Matthew Best

This would be embarrassing in a company that consisted of me as a sole trader. In a company with 24,000 employees it's a bit more embarrassing I would say.

I would have to agree there. I can't imagine that TV stations have been doing worse off during a pandemic given that all people are doing is sitting at home watching TV. They should have the means to get new software or get a solid work around.

Originally Posted by a_unique_person

Harman is providing a custom browser for companies that still need Flash.

That is helpful!

Armitage72 · Yesterday, 08:03 AM

My mother emailed me because her favorite online jigsaw puzzle website no longer works. She asked me if I could find her ones that still work, rather than try to look herself.

GodMark2 · Yesterday, 11:13 AM

Originally Posted by catsmate

Sweet effing jeebus but why was this not fixed well in advance?

You gotta update your corpspeak module:

Installing a compatible browser WAS the fix. It came in ahead of schedule and under budget, netting the VP making that decision a handsome cash bonus, and the people that actually did the work a solid pat on the head (maybe even a hearty "Good job, old boy!", if they were lucky).

Matthew Best · Yesterday, 02:51 PM

Originally Posted by plague311

I would have to agree there. I can't imagine that TV stations have been doing worse off during a pandemic given that all people are doing is sitting at home watching TV.

Unfortunately, while viewing figures are up, advertising revenue is down. And since advertising revenue is the only one of those two metrics that anyone actually cares about, TV stations have, in fact, been worse off.

23rd December 2020, 10:16 AM	#1
Bob001 Penultimate Amazing Join Date: Dec 2006 Location: US of A Posts: 12,347	Tell me about Flash As announced long ago, Flash Player will not be supported after Dec. 31 (what it calls its "end of life date,") and will actually block Flash content starting Jan. 12. What does this mean for the user? What will web sites no longer be able to provide, and what will I no longer be able to see? Or is this already so obsolete that it's rarely used now? https://www.adobe.com/products/flash...d-of-life.html
	Last edited by Bob001; 23rd December 2020 at 10:17 AM.

23rd December 2020, 10:19 AM	#2
Thermal Penultimate Amazing Join Date: Aug 2016 Location: East Coast USA Posts: 13,052	Thought this was a superhero origin story thread. Doesn't it belong in computers?
	__________________ We find comfort among those who agree with us, growth among those who don't -Frank A. Clark Whenever you find yourself on the side of the majority, it is time to pause and reflect -Mark Twain

23rd December 2020, 10:33 AM	#3
gnome Penultimate Amazing Join Date: Aug 2001 Posts: 10,811	I have had flash completely uninstalled for years, and it is maybe once a month that I encounter something that needed it. And nothing I couldn't get elsewhere.
	__________________

23rd December 2020, 01:03 PM	#5
PhantomWolf Penultimate Amazing Join Date: Mar 2007 Posts: 20,108	There are a few sites with flash games that will lose all their content, but unless you were one of those people that liked to play the older flash-based web games then there won't be a lot of change.
	__________________ It must be fun to lead a life completely unburdened by reality. -- JayUtah I am not able to rightly apprehend the kind of confusion of ideas that could provoke such a question. -- Charles Babbage (1791-1871)

23rd December 2020, 02:23 PM	#6
gnome Penultimate Amazing Join Date: Aug 2001 Posts: 10,811	Savior of the universe. He saved every one of us.
	__________________

23rd December 2020, 10:42 AM	#4
theprestige Penultimate Amazing Join Date: Aug 2007 Location: Hong Kong Posts: 48,544	What does this mean for the user? Not much. A lot of browsers don't support flash by default, and a lot of sites have already stopped using it anyway. What will web sites no longer be able to provide, Flash content. Typically some sort of graphical thing. Either a small video clip or an interactive menu or something like that. But there are many other, better, ways to provide these things now. and what will I no longer be able to see? Flash content. Or is this already so obsolete that it's rarely used now? Pretty much this. But you can easily experiment. Just look up how to turn off Flash support in your browser of choice, and see if you notice anything different about your Internet experience over the next few weeks. If your Internet experience includes a lot of flash-using websites, you should start seeing lots of really obvious empty spaces on websites, with a little jigsaw-puzzle icon in the middle, and a message along the lines of the content in that space needing a Flash player and do you want to enable/download/install one? But I'm betting that in the current year you probably won't notice much of a difference at all. Chrome stopped enabling flash by default some time ago, and I can't remember when I last saw a "you need flash" message on a website.

23rd December 2020, 03:25 PM	#7
Childlike Empress Ewige Blumenkraft Join Date: Jun 2006 Location: Ivory Tower Posts: 18,858	Flash died as an important technique when Apple decided to not allow it on their platform, which was several years ago. It has always been problematic from a security point of view. Most of what it delivered can be and is been done with JavaScript and CSS3 these days, and it is what annoys you about what is happening on all these commercial sites.
	__________________ I studied matter for all of my life just to find that there is no such thing - Hans-Peter Dürr

29th December 2020, 12:37 PM	#8
a_unique_person Director of Hatcheries and Conditioning Join Date: Jul 2002 Location: Waiting for the pod bay door to open. Posts: 42,975	You are forgetting about corporations that have business critical applications that use flash and haven't updated or replaced the flash using application yet.
	__________________ *Continually pushing the boundaries of mediocrity.* Everything is possible, but not everything is probable. “Perception is real, but the truth is not.” - Imelda Marcos

29th December 2020, 08:55 PM	#9
Childlike Empress Ewige Blumenkraft Join Date: Jun 2006 Location: Ivory Tower Posts: 18,858	Originally Posted by a_unique_person You are forgetting about corporations that have business critical applications that use flash and haven't updated or replaced the flash using application yet. Are you talking to Adobe?
	__________________ I studied matter for all of my life just to find that there is no such thing - Hans-Peter Dürr

30th December 2020, 12:14 AM	#10
a_unique_person Director of Hatcheries and Conditioning Join Date: Jul 2002 Location: Waiting for the pod bay door to open. Posts: 42,975	No. Corporations that use applications that require flash.
	__________________ *Continually pushing the boundaries of mediocrity.* Everything is possible, but not everything is probable. “Perception is real, but the truth is not.” - Imelda Marcos

30th December 2020, 11:26 AM	#11
plague311 Great minds think... Join Date: Dec 2011 Location: North Dakota Posts: 8,387	If some place is still running programs that use Flash, as a corporation or company, with almost a decade of knowledge that it was going to die, then that is on them. They should be scolded. I tell my clients the same thing when a program that's 10+ years old is dying. You can either pay for it now and have a pretty painless transition, or wait until it becomes a fire because the software is EOL'd.
	__________________ "Circumcision and death threats go together like milk and cookies." - William Parcher “There are times when the mind is dealt such a blow it hides itself in insanity. While this may not seem beneficial, it is. There are times when reality is nothing but pain, and to escape that pain the mind must leave reality behind.” - Patrick Rothfuss

30th December 2020, 11:34 AM	#12
gnome Penultimate Amazing Join Date: Aug 2001 Posts: 10,811	"Let me do that thing where it's my successor's budget breaking instead of mine--that's that last bit, right?"
	__________________

30th December 2020, 11:49 AM	#13
CORed Philosopher Join Date: Dec 2008 Location: Central City, Colorado, USA Posts: 9,995	Originally Posted by PhantomWolf There are a few sites with flash games that will lose all their content, but unless you were one of those people that liked to play the older flash-based web games then there won't be a lot of change. I guess Boom Boom vollyeball is gone then. The game was basically Pong (for those old enough to remember Pong) with better graphics, i.e. bikini-clad cartoon girls playing volleyball. There was even a cheat code that would change it to topless cartoon girls. This game was probably the peak of Flash technology.
	Last edited by CORed; 30th December 2020 at 11:51 AM.

30th December 2020, 12:30 PM	#14
CORed Philosopher Join Date: Dec 2008 Location: Central City, Colorado, USA Posts: 9,995	Originally Posted by Childlike Empress Flash died as an important technique when Apple decided to not allow it on their platform, which was several years ago. It has always been problematic from a security point of view. Most of what it delivered can be and is been done with JavaScript and CSS3 these days, and it is what annoys you about what is happening on all these commercial sites. I can remember a fair number of websites that implemented in Flash, stuff that could just as well been done with html forms, with or even without a little bit of Javascript.

12th January 2021, 07:53 AM	#15
Matthew Best Philosopher Join Date: Jun 2006 Location: Leicester Square, London Posts: 8,081	One of the main tools we use at work (I work at a TV station) for ingesting and checking material has been down all day, because it runs on Flash. This has been a huge hassle and I've had to install and old version of Internet Explorer in order to get it to work. I did point out that Flash was going to stop working about a year ago, and I kind of assumed that the IT department would (a) know about this and (b) do something about it. Turns out I was wrong!

12th January 2021, 02:34 PM	#16
plague311 Great minds think... Join Date: Dec 2011 Location: North Dakota Posts: 8,387	Originally Posted by Matthew Best One of the main tools we use at work (I work at a TV station) for ingesting and checking material has been down all day, because it runs on Flash. This has been a huge hassle and I've had to install and old version of Internet Explorer in order to get it to work. I did point out that Flash was going to stop working about a year ago, and I kind of assumed that the IT department would (a) know about this and (b) do something about it. Turns out I was wrong! It's not a resolution by any means but one of the companies I do IT for needed a box that would run flash. I just spun up a virtual machine for the guy on VMWare Workstation that ran Windows XP...not to give anyone ideas on how to keep using Flash.
	__________________ "Circumcision and death threats go together like milk and cookies." - William Parcher “There are times when the mind is dealt such a blow it hides itself in insanity. While this may not seem beneficial, it is. There are times when reality is nothing but pain, and to escape that pain the mind must leave reality behind.” - Patrick Rothfuss

12th January 2021, 05:09 PM	#17
gnome Penultimate Amazing Join Date: Aug 2001 Posts: 10,811	Is there a good place to get step by step instructions for setting up a VMWare Windows XP? I've tried to before but I wind up losing track of what to do next. I don't want to use Flash, I want to play 16-bit games that don't work on 64 bit Windows 10. Stuff like Full Tilt Pinball.
	__________________

12th January 2021, 07:02 PM	#18
plague311 Great minds think... Join Date: Dec 2011 Location: North Dakota Posts: 8,387	Originally Posted by gnome Is there a good place to get step by step instructions for setting up a VMWare Windows XP? I've tried to before but I wind up losing track of what to do next. I don't want to use Flash, I want to play 16-bit games that don't work on 64 bit Windows 10. Stuff like Full Tilt Pinball. It's been awhile. Tracking down some form of ISO would be the toughest part, I'm pretty sure a buddy of mine had the disks when I made that one. They paid for VMWare because they were a business, but I think there are cheap free players, or maybe Workstation is free. Like I said, it's been awhile lol. I'd think there might be an image on github somewhere. I can take a look a bit later.
	__________________ "Circumcision and death threats go together like milk and cookies." - William Parcher “There are times when the mind is dealt such a blow it hides itself in insanity. While this may not seem beneficial, it is. There are times when reality is nothing but pain, and to escape that pain the mind must leave reality behind.” - Patrick Rothfuss

13th January 2021, 07:01 AM	#19
Matthew Best Philosopher Join Date: Jun 2006 Location: Leicester Square, London Posts: 8,081	We ended up installing an old version of Internet Explorer, and then installing an old version of the Flash plug in so our essential software would run. In case you're wondering, I work for Viacom/CBS.

13th January 2021, 07:15 AM	#20
plague311 Great minds think... Join Date: Dec 2011 Location: North Dakota Posts: 8,387	Originally Posted by Matthew Best We ended up installing an old version of Internet Explorer, and then installing an old version of the Flash plug in so our essential software would run. In case you're wondering, I work for Viacom/CBS. Wow. As a guy that works in the IT industry it has been easier to get money, but we're usually last on the list. We've needed to upgrade our financial software since I got here almost 2 years ago, and I still haven't been given the green light.
	__________________ "Circumcision and death threats go together like milk and cookies." - William Parcher “There are times when the mind is dealt such a blow it hides itself in insanity. While this may not seem beneficial, it is. There are times when reality is nothing but pain, and to escape that pain the mind must leave reality behind.” - Patrick Rothfuss

17th January 2021, 06:49 PM	#21
a_unique_person Director of Hatcheries and Conditioning Join Date: Jul 2002 Location: Waiting for the pod bay door to open. Posts: 42,975	I think there's more places using Flash than would like to admit.
	__________________ *Continually pushing the boundaries of mediocrity.* Everything is possible, but not everything is probable. “Perception is real, but the truth is not.” - Imelda Marcos

18th January 2021, 12:10 AM	#22
Dude111 Scholar Join Date: Mar 2020 Posts: 122	Originally Posted by theprestige and what will I no longer be able to see? Flash content. I think its disgusting they think they can tell people what they can and cant use.... I have used and enjoyed flash,java and shockwave for years....... Im glad im on an older browser that lets me do WHAT I WANT!! (IE6 (MyIE2)) Thankfully I can still play flash games.... I would not like it if I couldnt.... THIS IS MY COMPUTER!!!
Dude111 Scholar Join Date: Mar 2020 Posts: 122	Last edited by Dude111; 18th January 2021 at 12:12 AM.

18th January 2021, 07:23 AM	#23
plague311 Great minds think... Join Date: Dec 2011 Location: North Dakota Posts: 8,387	Originally Posted by Dude111 * I think its disgusting they think they can tell people what they can and cant use.... I have used and enjoyed flash,java and shockwave for years....... Im glad im on an older browser that lets me do WHAT I WANT!! (IE6 (MyIE2)) Thankfully I can still play flash games.... I would not like it if I couldnt.... THIS IS MY COMPUTER!!! It's technically the company that is telling you not to use it. It's a security nightmare, and causes more problems than it solves. I'm glad you're standing up to the man though. It's a weird hill to fight on, in my humble opinion, but we each have our battles.
	__________________ "Circumcision and death threats go together like milk and cookies." - William Parcher “There are times when the mind is dealt such a blow it hides itself in insanity. While this may not seem beneficial, it is. There are times when reality is nothing but pain, and to escape that pain the mind must leave reality behind.” - Patrick Rothfuss

18th January 2021, 07:43 AM	#24
alfaniner Penultimate Amazing Join Date: Aug 2001 Posts: 24,569	Well, it's a few days past the hard deadline. I haven't come across any stories of business being shut down, or even of people being mildly inconvenienced.
	__________________ Science is self-correcting. Woo is self-contradicting.

18th January 2021, 01:49 PM	#25
rjh01 Gentleman of leisure Tagger Join Date: May 2005 Location: Flying around in the sky Posts: 26,404	I have modern software, I browse the Internet and not noticed anything. Have I missed anything? Any links to sites that do not work as advertised?
	__________________ This signature is for rent.

18th January 2021, 01:54 PM	#26
Matthew Best Philosopher Join Date: Jun 2006 Location: Leicester Square, London Posts: 8,081	Originally Posted by alfaniner Well, it's a few days past the hard deadline. I haven't come across any stories of business being shut down, or even of people being mildly inconvenienced. Hello? Have you got me on ignore or something?

18th January 2021, 01:59 PM	#27
plague311 Great minds think... Join Date: Dec 2011 Location: North Dakota Posts: 8,387	Originally Posted by rjh01 I have modern software, I browse the Internet and not noticed anything. Have I missed anything? Any links to sites that do not work as advertised? I think someone mentioned upthread, but there really aren't many websites that run on Flash. Most have switched over to HTML5 or something similar. The death of Flash has been ongoing for at least 5 years that I can remember, probably longer.
	__________________ "Circumcision and death threats go together like milk and cookies." - William Parcher “There are times when the mind is dealt such a blow it hides itself in insanity. While this may not seem beneficial, it is. There are times when reality is nothing but pain, and to escape that pain the mind must leave reality behind.” - Patrick Rothfuss

18th January 2021, 02:06 PM	#28
catsmate No longer the 1 Join Date: Apr 2007 Posts: 23,451	Originally Posted by Matthew Best We ended up installing an old version of Internet Explorer, and then installing an old version of the Flash plug in so our essential software would run. In case you're wondering, I work for Viacom/CBS. Sweet effing jeebus but why was this not fixed well in advance?
	__________________ As human right is always something given, it always in reality reduces to the right which men give, "concede," to each other. If the right to existence is conceded to new-born children, then they have the right; if it is not conceded to them, as was the case among the Spartans and ancient Romans, then they do not have it. For only society can give or concede it to them; they themselves cannot take it, or give it to themselves.

18th January 2021, 05:52 PM	#29
a_unique_person Director of Hatcheries and Conditioning Join Date: Jul 2002 Location: Waiting for the pod bay door to open. Posts: 42,975	Harman is providing a custom browser for companies that still need Flash.
	__________________ *Continually pushing the boundaries of mediocrity.* Everything is possible, but not everything is probable. “Perception is real, but the truth is not.” - Imelda Marcos

18th January 2021, 08:36 PM	#30
Dude111 Scholar Join Date: Mar 2020 Posts: 122	Thats good to know!! (Lets hope they dont ruin it somehow)
Dude111 Scholar Join Date: Mar 2020 Posts: 122

18th January 2021, 09:04 PM	#31
Matthew Best Philosopher Join Date: Jun 2006 Location: Leicester Square, London Posts: 8,081	Originally Posted by catsmate Sweet effing jeebus but why was this not fixed well in advance? That is a question I have asked several times. So far I've had no sensible answer. My best guess is that people in IT kept hoping that by the time Flash was switched off, we'd have a whole different set of software and the element that uses Flash would be obsolete already. As the switch-off got closer, the thinking appears to have been that if we simply failed to update browsers, we could carry on using it until the software is finally replaced. And indeed, that is, in a way, what we've done (reverted to an old version of IE and instituted a patch that prevents Microsoft updates from pushing out the Adobe kill switch). This would be embarrassing in a company that consisted of me as a sole trader. In a company with 24,000 employees it's a bit more embarrassing I would say.

Yesterday, 07:50 AM	#32
plague311 Great minds think... Join Date: Dec 2011 Location: North Dakota Posts: 8,387	Originally Posted by Matthew Best This would be embarrassing in a company that consisted of me as a sole trader. In a company with 24,000 employees it's a bit more embarrassing I would say. I would have to agree there. I can't imagine that TV stations have been doing worse off during a pandemic given that all people are doing is sitting at home watching TV. They should have the means to get new software or get a solid work around. Originally Posted by a_unique_person Harman is providing a custom browser for companies that still need Flash. That is helpful!
	__________________ "Circumcision and death threats go together like milk and cookies." - William Parcher “There are times when the mind is dealt such a blow it hides itself in insanity. While this may not seem beneficial, it is. There are times when reality is nothing but pain, and to escape that pain the mind must leave reality behind.” - Patrick Rothfuss

Yesterday, 08:03 AM	#33
Armitage72 Philosopher Join Date: Mar 2012 Location: Rochester, NY Posts: 5,179	My mother emailed me because her favorite online jigsaw puzzle website no longer works. She asked me if I could find her ones that still work, rather than try to look herself.

Yesterday, 11:13 AM	#34
GodMark2 Master Poster Join Date: Oct 2005 Location: Oregon, USA Posts: 2,169	Originally Posted by catsmate Sweet effing jeebus but why was this not fixed well in advance? You gotta update your corpspeak module: Installing a compatible browser WAS the fix. It came in ahead of schedule and under budget, netting the VP making that decision a handsome cash bonus, and the people that actually did the work a solid pat on the head (maybe even a hearty "Good job, old boy!", if they were lucky).
	__________________ Knowing that we do not know, it does not necessarily follow that we can not know.

Yesterday, 02:51 PM	#35
Matthew Best Philosopher Join Date: Jun 2006 Location: Leicester Square, London Posts: 8,081	Originally Posted by plague311 I would have to agree there. I can't imagine that TV stations have been doing worse off during a pandemic given that all people are doing is sitting at home watching TV. Unfortunately, while viewing figures are up, advertising revenue is down. And since advertising revenue is the only one of those two metrics that anyone actually cares about, TV stations have, in fact, been worse off.