Flash is dead, long live Animate!

[LiamLime]

http://blogs.adobe.com/flashpro/welcome ... fessional/

TL;DR: Flash has been completely rewritten to no longer be this antiquated plugin that runs as a program on your computer, instead it's a tool that integrates with HTML5 and WebGL, meaning it actually, genuinely has a chance to become useful - with things like Flash/Unity being too bulky and things like WebGL being too low level, can Adobe Animate reclaim its dominant position in the middle? - Being easy to develop things with and easy for people to use? Can it re-introduce Early 2000s Internet? Only time will tell!

[Ricotez]

if it's as vulnerable to attacks as flash I'll install the first blocker that comes out

[LiamLime]

I don't think it will be able to be vulnerable to attacks anywhere near as much as Flash is.

The problem with flash is that it runs on your system, meaning exploits can break into the file structure - something javascript (for example) can't do, because it is sandboxed and runs only in the browser and the browser alone (actually within just the tab, not even the whole browser). And when they say HTML5, that's what they mean. It will be exported as javascript code, which uses WebGL (JavaScript) and the Canvas API (HTML + JS). Meaning that even if exploits are found, it won't be a problem, since the browser will sandbox it, something it currently can't do.

It's like - when have you ever heard of a javascript exploit? JS is only ever used as an intermediary - it triggers exploits in Flash or Silverlight or Java or Unity or whatever. And if Animate will export to Javascript, it means it will, at most, be able to be an intermediary to exploit problems with other software.

Technically JS exploits do exist, but they are much rarer than Flash exploits. In 2015 I am aware of one JS exploit which broke into the file structure, and one which broke same origin policy. Following the Hacker team's demise, I am aware of at least 3 out-of-cycle Flash patches, each fixing multiple zero-day exploits, some allowing for remote code execution.

I for one welcome our new overlor - yeah, no. I'm still suspicious as all hell and will wait and see if it actually becomes useful again. I would genuinely love to see Flash (or an equivalent) become safe to use though, as it's pretty great for making animations and quick cartoons and such.

[Ricotez]

my master specialization is cyber security so I know how these security flaws work, my post was in a sarcastic fashion

[Saegrimr]

I haven't had flash installed for over a year and don't particularly miss it. This would be welcome news as long as it had some sort of legacy support without the vulnerabilities so I can go back and watch some good old days .swf humor.

[LiamLime]

Most of the SFW old SWFs (see what I did there? B) ) that I'm aware of, tend to be available in video form on Youtube.

[Montyblancs]

WebGL + Canvas is a powerful combo, but Flash was always unoptimized and struggled to play with larger projects for a lot of years as far as I can remember. This is a needed change, but this version will probably export with some clunky backend for a while too.

[EndgamerAzari]

>Flash is dead

[oranges]

Honestly I think it's a bit late for Adobe on this one, flash really tarnished their brandname in this space.

Anyway, it'll be interesting to see.

[Super Aggro Crag]

>Flash is dead

haha good joke azari i didn't know you liked comic books