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What happens when Adobe Flash Player is discontinued on 12/31/2020

By rljl2006 ·
Tags: Windows, Browser, Software
I am confused about how the discontinuance of Adobe Flash Player on 12/31/2020. I am using a Win 7 64 bit laptop and I have no idea what will happen with video streaming and whatever else the Flash Player is used for.

I realize they are eliminating it for security purposes, but I have that covered. I am worried about the lack of information about what to do after 12/31/2020. What are the consequences?

I downloaded the latest version as Adobe suggested, but what do I do in the future, if anything? Will it continue to work indefinitely since I downloaded the latest version? Will other software be required to replace it with?

Please someone explain to me with some detail what will occur and what if anything else I should do.
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Re: flash

by Kees_B Moderator In reply to What happens when Adobe F ...

Flash will continue to work on sites that use it as long the browser you use supports it. But since hardly any sites still use Flash and most browsers will be updated to remove their support for Flash, it will soon in practice soon die.

Sites that didn't upgrade to other tools will soon become unusable. Most sites will prevent that by using another way to publish their content. There is nothing you can do for sites that don't.

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IMO? Not much.

by rproffitt Moderator In reply to What happens when Adobe F ...

Flash hasn't worked on iPads and iPhones for a very long time (if ever.)
Nod to https://www.howtogeek.com/436033/how-to-use-adobe-flash-on-your-iphone-or-ipad/

It's rare to find a flash only site today outside of legacy or archive site.

My view is it was already gone years ago and irrelevant long ago.

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I don't think Adobe Flash and Apple.....

by birdmantd Moderator In reply to IMO? Not much.

....have ever been compatible. Apple introduced Quicktime in direct competition and refused to allow Adobe applications to the iTunes store. I don't know if that has ever changed but that was the original scenario.

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Maybe not Flash

by rproffitt Moderator In reply to I don't think Adobe Flash ...

But Adobe Photoshop has been in the App store forever it seems.
https://apps.apple.com/us/app/adobe-photoshop/id1457771281

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I understand.....

by birdmantd Moderator In reply to Maybe not Flash

I was referring to Adobe Flash only. Apple doesn't take too kindly to competition in any products it markets/sells. While I have heard of alternate OS for Microsoft Windows, not as much for Apple computers.

In the 70's to mid 80's Apple computer users could only buy hardware and software from licensed Apple stores.

I think that was about the same time when Microsoft got slapped for insisting the MS Windows OS could only be sold/installed on PC computers and Intel got slapped for restricting computer makers from selling PC's not using their processors.

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Other OSes for Apple computers?

by rproffitt Moderator In reply to I understand.....

Heresy, but from memory:
1. Yellow Dog.
2. FreeBSD https://wiki.freebsd.org/AppleMacbook
3. ChromeOS via Cloudready.

There are more but hey, just a few neurons to spare today.

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As others have said,

by wizard57m_cnet Moderator In reply to What happens when Adobe F ...

eventually Flash will disappear from sites except for archival types. Some of the older Flash objects MIGHT be compatible with Macromedia Flash (the original maker of Flash, Shockwave), those old players might still be available somewhere. Another option for Windows is Irfanview, it has an older Flash plugin, I've used it with downloaded OLD Flash content.
Wiz

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I think maybe you are all saying I need do nothing

by rljl2006 In reply to As others have said,

It seems that sites I load on Google or Duck Duck Go will be using some other software instead of Flash, and probably already are. This is the gist of what you are all saying, I think. The consequence of that is that I need to do nothing I am assuming.

But, what I fail to understand is why I was warned by Adobe Flash would be discontinued and I needed to download the latest version. If I am storing the latest version, but websites aren't using it, why am I storing it?

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Adobe is still patching security bugs,

by wizard57m_cnet Moderator In reply to I think maybe you are all ...

that's why the installer tells you to upgrade. From what I've read, there may be some sort of "kill switch" in Flash plugin releases from the past 6 or 7 months or so, in that if you attempt to run Flash content it simply doesn't run. I haven't ran into any problems with my Linux installations, none of which have Flash installed, though I do have an old version of the Linux Flash plugin. When booted into WinXP on this old netbook, I do have Flash installed, but can't remember the last time I encountered any Flash content to activate the player. I've also read some reports though not confirmed by myself that Flash will uninstall itself once EOL is reached.

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I think maybe you are all saying I need do nothing

by rljl2006 In reply to Adobe is still patching s ...

Thank you for responding to my question.

I still don't know what I am supposed to do when Flash is no longer working on my computer. Does it mean some of my older programs won't work?

if that is true, what would replace it so they do work?

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