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0 pointsmasklinn3y ago0 comments

> What killed it? According to my acquaintance it was Apple.

It was definitely what drew the first blood.

But in fairness, a lot of people were crying for blood, flash had issues all over, and it was a complete security disaster. Apple's decision basically gave everyone the OK to dump on it.

It also happened at a time where the idea of open web was ascendent, MSIE was being actively fought against, and the people involved were out to excise proprietary platforms.

Also all mobile platform flash implementations had been absolutely awful, barely usable battery killer even ignoring that the UI affordances were just not adapted for mobile touchscreen devices.

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10 comments · 3 top-level

deckard13y ago· 5 in thread

people that romanticize Flash are selectively remembering the cool uses such as Newgrounds and Homestar Runner. They are forgetting Flash ads, which were stuffed on a page to the point they would crash your browser. Or the constant fun of hunt-the-talking-banner. You could always tell when you landed on one of these pages by how fast your CPU fans started spinning. If your PC sounds like a jet engine, you're on a heavy Flash site and should close your browser ASAP.

egfx3y ago

It’s not just about AlbinoBlacksheep and NewGrounds. Flash was the most consequential technology on the web’s frontend prior to and even after html5. It was enabled on a staggering 98% of web browsers. So much so it was basically synonymous with web browsing. You can trace the trail of flash to the invention and adoption of social media. There would be no MySpace, no YouTube and Meebo. The internet would have had a completely different story.

pjmlp3y ago

Now they get ads using WebAssembly and WebGL instead, what an improvement!

bmacho3y ago

> If your PC sounds like a jet engine, you're on a heavy Flash site and should close your browser ASAP.

There is a duolingo page that manages to kill my computer to death if I am not fast enough to close it. (Fortunately I only get it ~once a week.) Flash was easily blockable, but javascript, especially something that is compiled to javascript is much harder to catch.

rchaud3y ago

Blaming Flash for talking ads of the mid-2000s is like blaming the cement on which a toll booth was erected.

Flash is dead. Autoplaying ads still exist.

YbW4PaUX7AjenKB3y ago

To be fair, now those ads are JS and do the same thing.

josefresco3y ago· 1 in thread

> It was definitely what drew the first blood.

Lack of iOS compatibility was the nail in the coffin. Our web agency already hated Flash because it lacked any SEO capability, and the editor was shit. When the iPhone dropped it we had already been building websites without it for a couple of years. It was just a nice accelerator and allowed us to deny clients who requested Flash much easier.

Fast forward a couple more years and security became the main issue. Many of our clients were infatuated with their Flash websites and didn't want to move on. I just took down a Flash website (replaced with HTML/CSS/JS) in... 2022!

phire3y ago

It might not be quite correct to describe it as the final nail in the coffin, but it absolutely was the killing blow.

Flash had been on shaky grounds for years. It was obvious that it had a limited lifespan, and that it eventually needed to die. I think even Adobe recognised this. But Apple accelerated it's death massively, and everyone seems to be very thankful for that.

kitsunesoba3y ago· 1 in thread

The UX of Flash and Flash-dependent sites was often bad, too. Late in its life, full-Flash sites were the only ones that I had to sit and watch a progress bar to load… regular HTML/CSS/JS sites, especially with an adblocker, loaded instantly.

For sites that used a Flash component (e.g. YouTube), the plug-in was fussy and flaky and would sometimes not work for any discernible reason, sometimes requiring an update to fix it. HTML5 replacements have been far less cantankerous.

rchaud3y ago

> Late in its life, full-Flash sites were the only ones that I had to sit and watch a progress bar to load… regular HTML/CSS/JS sites, especially with an adblocker, loaded instantly.

Well...yeah. Flash sites usually make use of graphics, fonts and videos, all of which use bandwidth. They serve an entirely different purpose than regular HTML/CSS/JS pages.

Flash loaded everything at once, so that the experience was instantaneous and fluid, once it loaded. It would continue to work if you disconnected. There wouldn't be any buffering or lag due to network issues.

j / k navigate · click thread line to collapse

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10 comments · 3 top-level

deckard13y ago· 5 in thread

egfx3y ago

pjmlp3y ago

Now they get ads using WebAssembly and WebGL instead, what an improvement!

bmacho3y ago

> If your PC sounds like a jet engine, you're on a heavy Flash site and should close your browser ASAP.

rchaud3y ago

Blaming Flash for talking ads of the mid-2000s is like blaming the cement on which a toll booth was erected.

Flash is dead. Autoplaying ads still exist.

YbW4PaUX7AjenKB3y ago

To be fair, now those ads are JS and do the same thing.

josefresco3y ago· 1 in thread

> It was definitely what drew the first blood.

phire3y ago

It might not be quite correct to describe it as the final nail in the coffin, but it absolutely was the killing blow.

kitsunesoba3y ago· 1 in thread

rchaud3y ago

> Late in its life, full-Flash sites were the only ones that I had to sit and watch a progress bar to load… regular HTML/CSS/JS sites, especially with an adblocker, loaded instantly.

Well...yeah. Flash sites usually make use of graphics, fonts and videos, all of which use bandwidth. They serve an entirely different purpose than regular HTML/CSS/JS pages.

j / k navigate · click thread line to collapse