The War Against Flash
Many companies have been calling for the final death of Flash, but a recent exploit discovered in July accelerated this kind of widespread lobby by the big names. The pressure is already visible in browsers. First Firefox began blocking old versions, and now Google Chrome is joining in, which will interrupt the automatic execution of "non-essential Flash content" starting in September.
Looking closely at the statements from companies like Mozilla and Facebook, it feels like a cold war against Flash is underway. The 0-day that appeared in mid-July didn't help Adobe's software, and there's nothing more to add regarding its reputation. The vast majority of browsers must encapsulate the Flash plugin to reduce security risks, however, it became very clear that this is not enough. For a couple of days, Mozilla blocked all versions of Flash in Firefox until Adobe fixed the problem, and this action was joined by the voice of Alex Stamos, the head of security at Facebook, who asked for a date for the "end-of-life" of Flash, and that the browsers' "killbits" be aligned with that same date.
Chrome's New Block
Needless to say, Adobe's response was to fix the bug and let the train leave the station once more. But this time, it is the Mountain View giant who decided to announce a block on the automatic reproduction of "non-essential Flash content" in Google Chrome, starting September 1. Now, it is necessary to note that the block is not permanent, but such content is paused until the user clicks on it. This is not news, and many extensions offer similar functionality. The question here is what Google considers "non-essential content".
The reproduction of videos on portals like YouTube and Vimeo will work without problems, but there are still many entertainment portals (intended for all ages) and various educational tools that depend on Flash to present content, not to mention advertising, a critical aspect in the financing of millions of portals and free services.
The Road to HTML5
It is assumed that this trend will lead to greater adoption of HTML5, which should improve certain details such as battery life (that was Google's original reason for implementing the block in Chrome beta a couple of months ago), security, and the presentation of advertising on mobile devices. However, the truth will be known on the first day of September.
