6 ms·

guess it's time to disable flash for a few weeks...

by bohm 11y ago

ghshephard 11y ago
A significant portion of the web using community (including myself) stopped using flash 6-12 months ago, when all the zero-days became a monthly occurrence. The plugin is no longer strategic for adobe, they've stopped any forward-looking development on it, and are now in the mode of whack-a-mole reactive security patching. I have not once every missed having flash on my system. It's not just the case that the web is useable, it's that, with the single exception of the BBC, it doesn't seem to use it anywhere I visit.
- deleted 11y ago
  [deleted]
- joosters 11y ago
  The BBC site will use non-flash videos if you browse it on an iPad, but they don't seem smart enough to serve these to you if you use a desktop browser with flash disabled. Presumably they could implement a non-flash fallback for users but unfortunately they just haven't bothered. I tried to cheat by modifying my User-Agent to pretend to be an iPad but had no luck...
  - cormullion 11y ago
    I was going to agree with you, but I've just double-checked, and you CAN access video content on the BBC sites on a desktop (MacOS X Safari) by setting your User-Agent to iPad. However, it's important that you've removed Flash completely from your system (using Flash Uninstaller), rather than just disable Flash (hoping to use Click-To-Flash). For some reason, they detect Flash by some kind of file-path-detection code...
    - joosters 11y ago
      That's irritating! I'll have to take a closer look at what they are doing, as I'd like to keep flash around on a click-to-run basis. I'm surprised that websites can do any kind of file path detection on a client...
    - reagency 11y ago
      What horrible browser lets a website inspect the filesystem without permission?
      - elktea 11y ago
        Browsers give away far too much information: https://panopticlick.eff.org/ https://panopticlick.eff.org/
- dhimes 11y ago
  I'm on some troubleshooting pages for canon that require flash. Seems they are in the process- as there are html 5 vids on the site as well.
- ExpiredLink 11y ago
  > The plugin is no longer strategic for adobe, they've stopped any forward-looking development on it, and are now in the mode of whack-a-mole reactive security patching. [citation needed]
  - ghshephard 11y ago
    About four years back Adobe committed to HTML5 on mobile platforms, and noted they would only provide bug fixes and security patches. http://www.cbsnews.com/news/adobe-abandons-flash-player-on-mobile-browsers-for-html5/ http://www.cbsnews.com/news/adobe-abandons-flash-player-on-m... http://www.telegraph.co.uk/technology/news/8879783/Adobe-abandons-Flash-for-mobile-devices.html http://www.telegraph.co.uk/technology/news/8879783/Adobe-aba...
    - concerned_user 11y ago
      Simply because at that time both Google and Apple have banned Flash on their respective platforms, otherwise nothing would change.
      - ghshephard 11y ago
        I'm not sure what your point is, but the reality on the ground, is that if you want to provide access to video, or other rich content, flash is incapable of reaching the largest audience, and the audience that's growing the fastest. Adobe has made it clear there will no longer be any development of flash on the mobile platform. HTML5 is the strategic platform for adobe moving forward. Absolutely no new major content sites as of around 2014 or so support flash as an option - they are all starting with HTML5 and/or thick local clients. Flash needs to be EOL'd, and the sooner the better for the security of the Internet.
  - micampe 11y ago
    Citation needed comments are lazy and useless.
- smackfu 11y ago
  >A significant portion of the web using community (including myself) stopped using flash 6-12 months ago That seems unlikely. Maybe HN users, but that's not really representative of web users overall
sebcat 11y ago
I've been running without Flash for a couple of years now. The only thing I can't do that I would like to be able to do is to watch Facebook videos. Other than that, not having Flash installed is not a problem for me.
- degenerate 11y ago
  Facebook doesn't use HTML5? Why?!
  - TD-Linux 11y ago
    They will if you force a mobile user agent. I wish I knew why they didn't on desktop.
    - cpeterso 11y ago
      Facebook now supports HTML5 video for Windows 7+.
- bratch 11y ago
  Swap the "www" in the URL for "m" on a video page and you'll get a low resolution HTML5 video!
chinathrow 11y ago
No, it's time to uninstall all plugins for good.
jimmaswell 11y ago
I just set it to only activate when I approve it, for if I'm on a trusted website.

guess it's time to disable flash for a few weeks...

by bohm 11y ago

guess it's time to disable flash for a few weeks...

A significant portion of the web using community (including myself) stopped using flash 6-12 months ago, when all the zero-days became a monthly occurrence. The plugin is no longer strategic for adobe, they've stopped any forward-looking development on it, and are now in the mode of whack-a-mole reactive security patching. I have not once every missed having flash on my system. It's not just the case that the web is useable, it's that, with the single exception of the BBC, it doesn't seem to use it anywhere I visit.

deleted 11y ago
[deleted]
joosters 11y ago
The BBC site will use non-flash videos if you browse it on an iPad, but they don't seem smart enough to serve these to you if you use a desktop browser with flash disabled. Presumably they could implement a non-flash fallback for users but unfortunately they just haven't bothered. I tried to cheat by modifying my User-Agent to pretend to be an iPad but had no luck...
- cormullion 11y ago
  I was going to agree with you, but I've just double-checked, and you CAN access video content on the BBC sites on a desktop (MacOS X Safari) by setting your User-Agent to iPad. However, it's important that you've removed Flash completely from your system (using Flash Uninstaller), rather than just disable Flash (hoping to use Click-To-Flash). For some reason, they detect Flash by some kind of file-path-detection code...
  - joosters 11y ago
    That's irritating! I'll have to take a closer look at what they are doing, as I'd like to keep flash around on a click-to-run basis. I'm surprised that websites can do any kind of file path detection on a client...
  - reagency 11y ago
    What horrible browser lets a website inspect the filesystem without permission?
    - elktea 11y ago
      Browsers give away far too much information: https://panopticlick.eff.org/ https://panopticlick.eff.org/
dhimes 11y ago
I'm on some troubleshooting pages for canon that require flash. Seems they are in the process- as there are html 5 vids on the site as well.
ExpiredLink 11y ago
> The plugin is no longer strategic for adobe, they've stopped any forward-looking development on it, and are now in the mode of whack-a-mole reactive security patching. [citation needed]
- ghshephard 11y ago
  About four years back Adobe committed to HTML5 on mobile platforms, and noted they would only provide bug fixes and security patches. http://www.cbsnews.com/news/adobe-abandons-flash-player-on-mobile-browsers-for-html5/ http://www.cbsnews.com/news/adobe-abandons-flash-player-on-m... http://www.telegraph.co.uk/technology/news/8879783/Adobe-abandons-Flash-for-mobile-devices.html http://www.telegraph.co.uk/technology/news/8879783/Adobe-aba...
  - concerned_user 11y ago
    Simply because at that time both Google and Apple have banned Flash on their respective platforms, otherwise nothing would change.
    - ghshephard 11y ago
      I'm not sure what your point is, but the reality on the ground, is that if you want to provide access to video, or other rich content, flash is incapable of reaching the largest audience, and the audience that's growing the fastest. Adobe has made it clear there will no longer be any development of flash on the mobile platform. HTML5 is the strategic platform for adobe moving forward. Absolutely no new major content sites as of around 2014 or so support flash as an option - they are all starting with HTML5 and/or thick local clients. Flash needs to be EOL'd, and the sooner the better for the security of the Internet.
- micampe 11y ago
  Citation needed comments are lazy and useless.
smackfu 11y ago
>A significant portion of the web using community (including myself) stopped using flash 6-12 months ago That seems unlikely. Maybe HN users, but that's not really representative of web users overall

sebcat 11y ago

I've been running without Flash for a couple of years now. The only thing I can't do that I would like to be able to do is to watch Facebook videos. Other than that, not having Flash installed is not a problem for me.

degenerate 11y ago
Facebook doesn't use HTML5? Why?!
- TD-Linux 11y ago
  They will if you force a mobile user agent. I wish I knew why they didn't on desktop.
  - cpeterso 11y ago
    Facebook now supports HTML5 video for Windows 7+.
bratch 11y ago
Swap the "www" in the URL for "m" on a video page and you'll get a low resolution HTML5 video!

chinathrow 11y ago

No, it's time to uninstall all plugins for good.

jimmaswell 11y ago

I just set it to only activate when I approve it, for if I'm on a trusted website.