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Flash For Linux Will Only Be Available For Chrome

blogs.adobe.com

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Re: Flash For Linux Will Only Be Available For Chrome

#51

Post by ConceptJunkie »

cmsj wrote: post #4
k33n wrote: post #2

Correct me if I'm wrong, but it looks like other browsers are free to implement the "pepper" API as well. It seems as though they are not saying "we're only supporting Chrome". They are saying "Chrome is the only browser that has implemented Pepper so far, and we're only supporting Pepper on Linux".

Think licensing. If the Adobe blog post is correct and the pepper plugin is only distributed with Chrome and isn't open source and part of Chromium then how is another browser going to support it? They'd have to tell you to install Chrome and then open the plugin from within Chrome's installed directory. Pretty ugly solution. If it's open source and part of Chromium then they can at least take the source out and ship…

I'm betting the distro packagers like Canonical will solve the problem for end users.

Meanwhile, Flash continues to circle the drain, and this might hasten its inevitable, but slow demise.

Re: Flash For Linux Will Only Be Available For Chrome

#53

Post by [deleted] »

cmsj wrote: post #4
k33n wrote: post #2

Correct me if I'm wrong, but it looks like other browsers are free to implement the "pepper" API as well. It seems as though they are not saying "we're only supporting Chrome". They are saying "Chrome is the only browser that has implemented Pepper so far, and we're only supporting Pepper on Linux".

Think licensing. If the Adobe blog post is correct and the pepper plugin is only distributed with Chrome and isn't open source and part of Chromium then how is another browser going to support it? They'd have to tell you to install Chrome and then open the plugin from within Chrome's installed directory. Pretty ugly solution. If it's open source and part of Chromium then they can at least take the source out and ship…

[deleted]

Re: Flash For Linux Will Only Be Available For Chrome

#54

Post by shimon_e »

lmm wrote: post #27
bwarp wrote: post #6

I get the feeling this isn't going to be that much of a problem. I've not got the flash plugin installed in Firefox and I'm not finding any great hardship these days. Perhaps it'll kill Flash a bit quicker considering the amount of Kiosks and Internet cafes running Firefox+Flash on Linux.

This might be more of a problem for FreeBSD than it is for Linux; at the moment, one can use flash on FreeBSD via linux firefox and hackery. I'm not aware of a way to use linux chrome as yet.

You still be able to use flash 11.2 and receive security updates for another 5 years. Unless there is going to be massive progress for flash (which we already know there isn't) this isn't really news. They are basically saying if there ever is a flash 12 it will not be supported on linux.

Re: Flash For Linux Will Only Be Available For Chrome

#55

Post by yabai »

Wow. I remember waiting for flash to come to 64 bit Linux systems...

Perhaps Adobe has to continue supporting Chrome to support Googles Chromebooks.

In a perfect world, we would have open standards and would never need to rely on a company. Hopefully flash will die quickly (I wish I had a dollar for everytime I have heard this).

Re: Flash For Linux Will Only Be Available For Chrome

#56

Post by buster »

gcp wrote: post #40

I can't make much sense of this. Adobe declared Flash dead. Apple declared Flash dead. Google declared Flash dead in Chrome for Android. Now, they're going to continue working on Flash, but only on a new API that is implemented only in a single browser in Linux (and from statements from Apple and Mozilla, will stay that way), but keeping it compatible with the old NPAPI on Windows? What I don't even.... Edit: Could i…

Where does Adobe declare Flash on the desktop dead?

Re: Flash For Linux Will Only Be Available For Chrome

#57

Post by DrJokepu »

gcp wrote: post #40

I can't make much sense of this. Adobe declared Flash dead. Apple declared Flash dead. Google declared Flash dead in Chrome for Android. Now, they're going to continue working on Flash, but only on a new API that is implemented only in a single browser in Linux (and from statements from Apple and Mozilla, will stay that way), but keeping it compatible with the old NPAPI on Windows? What I don't even.... Edit: Could i…

Isn't Chromebook essentially a Linux-based appliance?

Re: Flash For Linux Will Only Be Available For Chrome

#58

Post by shimon_e »

MatthewPhillips wrote: post #38
ootachi wrote: post #14

For reference, here are the thoughts of Robert O'Callahan from Mozilla (and those of Simon Fraser from Apple) on Pepper: https://mail.mozilla.org/pipermail/plugin-futures/2010-April... The thread (which continues into May) goes over pretty clearly why they felt Pepper was a bad idea.

Google has a nasty habit of developing some technology in a dark room, then dropping it on the web community and being confused when no one is that interested (Dart is the other big example). It makes me wonder if they really want these projects to be cross-platform successful or not.

Adobe is dropping linux support after 11.2. With the except of Chrome due to a new API that "aims to provide a layer between the plugin and browser that abstracts away differences between browser and operating system implementations."

Given that linux really hasn't been a priority for them and they are dropping flash all together; this isn't really news.

The press release says Adobe worked with Google on Pepper. So for them to have a bias towards it isn't groundbreaking.

Re: Flash For Linux Will Only Be Available For Chrome

#59

Post by shimon_e »

gcp wrote: post #40

I can't make much sense of this. Adobe declared Flash dead. Apple declared Flash dead. Google declared Flash dead in Chrome for Android. Now, they're going to continue working on Flash, but only on a new API that is implemented only in a single browser in Linux (and from statements from Apple and Mozilla, will stay that way), but keeping it compatible with the old NPAPI on Windows? What I don't even.... Edit: Could i…

They are basically saying due to Pepper there is no or little work in getting flash to work in Chrome on Linux... so there will be continued support.

The real question is if this is true, why are they dropping flash for android?

Re: Flash For Linux Will Only Be Available For Chrome

#60

Post by ConceptJunkie »

pbhjpbhj wrote: post #36
nakkiel wrote: post #11

I think it's reasonable to assume that Adobe wants to kill Flash on GNU/Linux, but can't yet do it for Chrome due to some engagement with Google. If this is really their intent, they are going to have much more trouble justifying a kill operation on other platforms. I forsee a slow and painful death for Flash.

It's only been about a year since the flash plugin started assuming any sort of stability. Did Adobe just find Linux too hard to implement on?

Given that it took them something like 5 years to make a 64-bit version, I would imagine that Flash is such a mass of spaghetti code that, yes, they did find Linux too hard.
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