Google Changes Its Policy With Adobe Flash

Google announced recently that advertisements using Adobe Flash will not be played automatically on the Chrome browser. The internet search giant joined a number of big-name tech companies that have scorned the Web animation software of Adobe.

The announcement was initially made in June and changes the way advertisements are made, particularly among designers who are comfortable with the animation software. While Flash was the preferred tool in displaying video and animation over the internet, the software was the subject of criticisms by a number of companies due to security issues and its inefficient use of power. Tommy Li of Google said the power issue was the main reason for pausing advertisements using the software.

No statements were released by either Adobe or Google in connection to the issue.

Google Changes Adobe Flash Policy - image credit: money.cnn.com

A ripple effect was created with the changes made by Google as Amazon revealed that advertisement using Adobe Flash will not be displayed on its websites. The retail giant indicated that the changes implemented by Google along with current policies from other internet browsers were the main reason for the removal of Flash advertisements.

The policy change of Google is the latest issue affecting the software. Alex Stamos, security chief at Facebook, tweeted that Adobe should announce the end of Flash and request “browsers to set killbits” for it. Mozilla also indicated that Firefox will block the software on default.

It is time for Adobe to announce the end-of-life date for Flash and to ask the browsers to set killbits on the same day.

— Alex Stamos (@alexstamos) July 12, 2015

BIG NEWS!! All versions of Flash are blocked by default in Firefox as of now. https://t.co/4SjVoqKPrR #tech #infosec pic.twitter.com/VRws3L0CBW

— Mark Schmidt (@MarkSchmidty) July 14, 2015

A manifesto written by the late Steve Jobs against the software in 2010 explained his decision in removing support for Adobe Flash from the iOS software of the company. The move brought about changes in websites as they started to support other standards, such as HTML5, and reduce the use of Flash on the internet.

The late Apple CEO highlighted the poor security record of Adobe Flash and described it as the main reason for Macs crashing. He said the company should concentrate on producing more HTML5 tools in the future instead of criticizing Apple for dropping the software.

Posted by peter on Wednesday September 09 2015, 2:19 PM EST. All trademarks acknowledged. Filed under Technology. Comments and Trackbacks closed. Follow responses: RSS 2.0