It’s no secret that Google has been systematically eliminating Adobe’s Flash Player from the interwebs for some time. But, before we go jumping on the “death to Flash” bandwagon, let’s clear up a few things. First and foremost, Google has not killed Flash.
The entire web industry has been slowly but surely migrating away from Flash for some time now. With ongoing concerns over security, heavy resource usage and constant updates, Flash has become an archaic nuisance for most users. Firefox has already promised to eliminate support for Flash by the end of 2016. Google began blocking some Flash-based ads in September of last year and will completley eliminate for their Ad networks by January, 2017.
With the roll out of Chrome 53 this coming September, Google will begin disabling Flash by default. By the time Chrome 55 is released in December, HTML5 will be the default browser setting with the exception of Flash-only sites. The reasoning is sound and is advantageous for users and developers alike. Flash has played a huge part of the web becoming what it is today. But, it(like most technologies) has become dated.
Today, more than 90% of Flash on the web loads behind the scenes to support things like page analytics. This kind of Flash slows you down, and starting this September, Chrome 53 will begin to block it. HTML5 is much lighter and faster, and publishers are switching over to speed up page loading and save you more battery life. You’ll see an improvement in responsiveness and efficiency for many sites.
In December, Chrome 55 will make HTML5 the default experience, except for sites which only support Flash. For those, you’ll be prompted to enable Flash when you first visit the site. Aside from that, the only change you’ll notice is a safer and more power-efficient browsing experience.
-Anthony LaForge, curator of Flash in Chrome
So, to sum up, Google has not killed Flash. Google is only doing what is does best, leading industry and creating a more user friendly experience. For the 1% of 1% of Flash sites that you may actually view, you can still do so without issue. And, if and when the day comes that Flash is in fact deceased, I can assure you (with almost 100% confidence) Google and it’s counterparts will have implemented a suitable and seamless replacement.
