Macromedia Flash Player

Flash Player is a deprecated plug-in that allows interactive web animations to be played back within a browser. It gained widespread use in the early 2000s and many sites used it for streaming audiovisual content, movies, and playing games. However, it was also criticized for its security issues and support was phased out of major browsers by the end of 2020.

History
Flash Player was previously developed by Macromedia, which Adobe Systems acquired in December 2005. At that time, the player was at version 8, in parity with the Flash Professional 8 authoring application. However, it was then rapidly updated over the following years through dozens of software updates to patch various security flaws. Malicious websites and online ads took advantage of this by attempting to trick users into downloading fake Flash updaters to install software viruses, unwanted adware, malware, and spyware that can steal their data.

Release history

 * FutureSplash Player 1 (1996)
 * Originally developed by FutureWave Software
 * Renamed "Flash" by Macromedia, but still contained FutureSplash and FutureWave branding
 * Macromedia Flash Player 2 (1997)
 * First version developed under Macromedia
 * Mostly vectors and motion, some bitmaps, limited audio
 * Macromedia Flash Player 3 (1998)
 * Added alpha transparency, licensed MP3 compression
 * Macromedia Flash Player 4 (May 1999)
 * Macromedia Flash Player 5 (August 2000)
 * Macromedia Flash Player 6 (version 6.0.21.0, codenamed Exorcist) (March 2002)
 * Support for the consuming Flash Remoting (AMF) and Web Service (SOAP)
 * Supports ondemand/live audio and video streaming (RTMP)
 * Support for screenreaders via Microsoft Active Accessibility
 * Added Sorenson Sparc video codec for Flash Video
 * Macromedia Flash Player 7 (version 7.0.14.0, codenamed Mojo) (September 2003)Macromedia Flash Player 7 logo.png
 * Supports progressive audio and video streaming (HTTP)
 * Supports ActionScript 2.0, an Object-Oriented Programming Language for developers
 * Macromedia Flash Player 8 (version 8.0.22.0, codenamed Maelstrom) (August 2005)
 * Support of GIF and PNG bitmapped images
 * New video codec (On2 VP6)
 * Improved runtime performance
 * Live filters such as blur and drop shadow
 * File upload and download capabilities
 * Crisp pixel-perfect text rendering
 * New security features to prevent unsafe code from running
 * Macromedia Flash Lite 1.0 and 1.1
 * Based on Flash Player 4
 * Macromedia Flash Lite 2.0 (December 2005)
 * Based on Flash Player 7

Deprecation
In April 2010, Apple CEO Steve Jobs wrote an open critique of Flash platform to justify his refusal to support the technology on Apple's successful iOS line, which included the iPhone, iPod touch, and iPad. An Apple engineer later stated that Jobs was offended that Adobe CEO Shantanu Narayen would not take his phone calls for what he perceived to be "mere engineering problems". Developers of third-party web browsers began to blacklist the Flash plug-in by default due to security issues. In November 2015, Adobe announced that the next version of the Flash Professional authoring application would be rebranded as Adobe Animate (released in February 2016) to reflect the change of product focus.

In July 2017, Adobe announced that it would phase out support for Flash Player by the end of 2020. Support by major browser developers, such as Microsoft, was phased out by December 31, 2020. The latest Flash plug-ins began blocking playback of content on January 12, 2021. Instead, an image would be displayed that would link to an end-of-life notice from Adobe. For enterprise customers that still need to transition legacy Flash content to alternate technologies, such Adobe AIR, became an officially licensed distributor and enterprise support provider.