.
*internet video streamer*
.
formerly called…
‘macromedia flash’
‘shockwave flash’
.
*’multimedia’ + ‘software’ platform used for creating…*
‘vector graphics’
.
‘animation’
.
‘browser games’
.
‘rich internet applications’
.
‘desktop applications’
.
‘mobile applications ‘
.
‘mobile games’
.
.
.
(‘flash’ displays…)
‘text graphics’
.
‘vector graphics’
.
‘raster graphics’
.
.
(to provide…)
‘animations’
.
‘video games’
.
‘applications’
.
.
(it allows ‘streaming’ of ‘audio’ + ‘video’, and can capture ‘mouse’, ‘keyboard’, ‘microphone’, and ‘camera input’)
.
.
(‘flash graphics’ + ‘flash animation’ is designed using the ‘flash editor’, and may be viewed by ‘end-users’ via…)
‘web browsers’
(using ‘flash player’)
.
‘AIR’
(for ‘desktop apps’ / ‘mobile apps’)
.
‘3rd-party players’
(such as ‘scaleform GFx’)
(for ‘video games’)
.
.
(‘adobe flash player’ enables ‘end-users’ to view ‘flash content’ using ‘web browsers’, and is supported on…)
‘microsoft windows’
.
‘mac OS X’
.
‘linux’
.
.
(‘adobe flash lite’ enabled viewing ‘flash content’ on ‘older smartphones’, but has been ‘discontinued’ + ‘superseded’ by ‘adobe AIR’)
.
.
(the ‘actionscript’ programming language allows creation of…)
‘interactive animations’
.
‘video games’
.
‘web applications’
.
‘desktop applications’
.
‘mobile applications’
.
.
(‘flash software’ can be developed using an ‘IDE’ (‘integrated development environment’) such as…)
.
‘adobe flash professional’
.
‘adobe flash builder’
.
‘flashdevelop’
.
‘powerflasher FDT’
.
.
(‘adobe AIR’ enables full-featured desktop + mobile applications to be ‘developed’ with ‘flash’, and published for ‘microsoft windows’, ‘mac OS X’, ‘google android’, and ‘iOS’)
.
.
(‘flash’ is frequently used to display…)
‘streaming video’
.
‘advertisement’ + ‘interactive’ multimedia content on ‘web pages’
.
‘flash-enabled software’
.
.
(however, after the ‘2000s’, the usage of ‘flash’ on ‘web sites’ has ‘declined’, and as of ‘2015’, ‘flash’ is primarily used to build ‘video games’ for ‘mobile devices’ with ‘adobe AIR’)
(aka “deprecated software”)
.
FutureWave
The precursor to Flash was a product named SmartSketch, published by FutureWave Software in 1993.
The company was founded by Charlie Jackson, Jonathan Gay, and Michelle Welsh.
SmartSketch was a vector drawing application for pen computers running the PenPoint OS.[27][28]
When PenPoint failed in the marketplace, SmartSketch was ported to Microsoft Windows and Mac OS.[24][29]
As the Internet became more popular, FutureWave realized the potential for a vector-based web animation tool that might challenge Macromedia Shockwave technology.[23][24]
In 1995, FutureWave modified SmartSketch by adding frame-by-frame animation features and released this new product as FutureSplash Animator on Macintosh and PC.[23][24][30][31]
FutureWave approached Adobe Systems with an offer to sell them FutureSplash in 1995, but Adobe turned down the offer at that time.[24]
Microsoft wanted to create an “online TV network” (MSN 2.0) and adopted FutureSplash animated content as a central part of it.[24]
Disney Online used FutureSplash animations for their subscription-based service Disney’s Daily Blast.[23][24]
Fox Broadcasting Company launched The Simpsons using FutureSplash
.
*MACROMEDIA*
In November 1996, FutureSplash was acquired by Macromedia, and Macromedia re-branded and released FutureSplash Animator as Macromedia Flash 1.0
.
Flash was a 2-part system,
a graphics and animation editor known as Macromedia Flash,
and a player known as Macromedia Flash Player
.
FutureSplash Animator was an animation tool originally developed for pen-based computing devices.
Due to the small size of the FutureSplash Viewer, it was particularly suited for download on the Web.
Macromedia distributed Flash Player as a free browser plugin in order to quickly gain market share.
By 2005, more computers worldwide had Flash Player installed than any other Web media format, including Java, QuickTime, RealNetworks, and Windows Media Player
.
Macromedia upgraded the Flash system between 1996 and 1999 adding MovieClips,
Actions (the precursor to ActionScript), Alpha transparency, and other features.
As Flash matured, Macromedia’s focus shifted from marketing it as a graphics and media tool to promoting it as a Web application platform, adding scripting and data access capabilities to the player while attempting to retain its small footprint.[citation needed]
In 2000, the first major version of ActionScript was developed, and released with Flash 5.
Actionscript 2.0 was released with Flash MX 2004 and supported object-oriented programming, improved UI components and other programming features
.
The last version of Flash released by Macromedia was Flash 8, which focused on graphical upgrades such as
filters
(blur, drop shadow, etc.),
blend modes
(similar to Adobe Photoshop),
and advanced features for FLV video.[citation needed]
.
Adobe
On December 3, 2005, Adobe Systems acquired Macromedia[33] along with the entire Macromedia product line including
Flash,
Dreamweaver,
Director/Shockwave,
Fireworks, and Authorware.
.
In 2007, Adobe’s first version release was Adobe Flash CS3 Professional, the ninth major version of Flash.
It introduced the ActionScript 3.0 programming language, which supported modern programming practices and enabled business applications to be developed with Flash.
Adobe Flex Builder (built on Eclipse) targeted the enterprise application development market, and was also released the same year
.
Flex Builder included…
the Flex SDK,
a set of components that included charting, advanced UI, and data services (Flex Data Services)
.
In 2008, Adobe released the tenth version of Flash, Adobe Flash CS4
.
Flash 10 improved animation capabilities within the Flash editor, including…
adding a motion editor panel
(similar to Adobe After Effects)
.
inverse kinematics
(bones)
.
basic 3D object animation,
object-based animation,
and other text and graphics features
.
Flash Player 10 included an in-built 3D engine (without GPU acceleration) that allowed basic object transformations in 3D space (position, rotation, scaling)
.
Also in 2008, Adobe released the first version of Adobe Integrated Runtime (later re-branded as Adobe AIR), a runtime engine that replaced Flash Player, and provided additional capabilities to the ActionScript 3.0 language to build desktop and mobile applications.
With AIR, developers could access the file system (the user’s files and folders), and connected devices such as a joystick, gamepad, and sensors for the first time.[citation needed]
In 2011, Adobe Flash Player 11 was released, and with it the first version of Stage3D, allowing GPU-accelerated 3D rendering for Flash applications and games on desktop platforms such as Microsoft Windows and Mac OS X
.
Adobe further improved 3D capabilities from 2011 to 2013, adding support for…
3D rendering on Android and iOS platforms,
alpha-channels,
compressed textures,
texture atlases,
and other features
.
Adobe AIR was upgraded to support 64-bit computers, and to allow developers to add additional functionality to the AIR runtime using AIR Native Extensions (ANE).
In May 2014, Adobe announced that Adobe AIR was used in over 100,000 unique applications and had over 1 billion installations logged worldwide.[37]
Adobe AIR was voted the Best Mobile Application Development product at the Consumer Electronics Show on two consecutive years (CES 2014 and CES 2015).[38][39]
In 2016, Adobe renamed Flash Professional, the primary authoring software for Flash content, to Adobe Animate to reflect its growing use for authoring HTML5 content in favor of Flash content
.
Open Source
Adobe has taken steps to reduce or eliminate Flash licensing costs.
For instance, the SWF file format documentation is provided free of charge[41] after they relaxed the requirement of accepting a non-disclosure agreement to view it in 2008.[42]
Adobe also created the Open Screen Project which removes licensing fees and opens data protocols for Flash.
Adobe has also open-sourced many components relating to Flash.
In 2006, the ActionScript Virtual Machine 2 (AVM2) which implements ActionScript 3 was donated as open-source to Mozilla Foundation, to begin work on the Tamarin virtual machine that would implement the ECMAScript 4 language standard with the help of the Mozilla community.[43]
It was released under the terms of a MPL/GPL/LGPL tri-license and includes the specification for the ActionScript bytecode format;
Tamarin Project jointly managed by Mozilla and Adobe Systems[44]
It is now considered obsolete by Mozilla.
In 2011, the Adobe Flex Framework was donated as open-source to the Apache Software Foundation and rebranded as Apache Flex.[45]
Some saw this move as Adobe abandoning Flex, and stepping away from the Flash Platform as a whole.[46][47]
Sources from Apache say that “Enterprise application development is no longer a focus at Adobe.
At least as Flash is concerned, Adobe is concentrating on games and video.”,[46][48] and they conclude that “Flex Innovation is Exploding!”.[48]
The donated source code included a partly developed AS3 compiler (dubbed “Falcon”) and the BlazeDS set of technologies.[47][48]
In 2013, the CrossBridge C++ cross-compilation toolset was open sourced by Adobe and released on GitHub.[49][50]
The project was formerly termed “Alchemy” and “Flash Runtime C++ Compiler”,
and targeted the game development market to enable C++ video games to run in Adobe Flash Player.[51]
Adobe has not been willing to make complete source code of the Flash Player available for free software development…
and even though free and open source alternatives such as Shumway and Gnash have been built, they are no longer under active development.[52]
The only fully functional third-party Flash Player is the commercially available Scaleform GFx Player, which is game development middleware designed for integration into non-Flash video games
.
Open Screen Project
On May 1, 2008, Adobe announced the Open Screen Project, with the intent of providing a consistent application interface across devices such as personal computers, mobile devices, and consumer electronics
.
When the project was announced, 7 goals were outlined…
1 + 2
the abolition of licensing fees for Adobe Flash Player and Adobe AIR
.
3 + 4
the removal of restrictions on the use of the Shockwave Flash (SWF) and Flash Video (FLV) file formats
.
5
the publishing of application programming interfaces for porting Flash to new devices,
.
6 + 7
and the publishing of The Flash Cast protocol and Action Message Format (AMF), which let Flash applications receive information from remote databases
.
As of February 2009, the specifications removing the restrictions on the use of SWF and FLV/F4V specs have been published.[54]
The Flash Cast protocol—now known as the Mobile Content Delivery Protocol—and AMF protocols have also been made available,[54]
with AMF available as an open source implementation, BlazeDS.
The list of mobile device providers who have joined the project includes Palm, Motorola, and Nokia,[55] who, together with Adobe, have announced a $10 million Open Screen Project fund.[56]
As of 2012, the Open Screen Project is no longer accepting new applications according to partner BSQuare.
However, paid licensing is still an option for device makers who want to use Adobe software
.
End of life
See also: Adobe Flash Player § End of life
One of Flash’s primary uses on the Internet when it was first released was for building fully immersive, interactive websites.
These were typically highly creative site designs that provided more flexibility over what the current HTML standards could provide as well as operate over dial-up connections.[57]
However, these sites limited accessibility by “breaking the Back Button”, dumping visitors out of the Flash experience entirely by returning them to whatever page they had been on prior to first arriving at the site.
Fully Flash-run sites fell out of favor for more strategic use of Flash plugins for video and other interactive features among standard HTML conventions, corresponding with the availability of HTML features like cascading style-sheets in the mid-00’s.[58]
At the same time, this also led to Flash being used for new apps, including video games and animations.[59]
Precursors to YouTube but featuring user-generated Flash animations and games such as Newgrounds became popular destinations, further helping to spread the use of Flash
.
Toward the end of the millennium, smartphones with browsing capabilities were released, corresponding with development of Dynamic HTML.
Fifteen years later, WAP had largely been replaced by full-capability implementations and the HTML5 standard included more support for interactive and video elements.
Support for Flash in these mobile browsers was not included.
In 2010, Apple’s Steve Jobs famously wrote Thoughts on Flash, an open letter to Adobe criticizing the closed nature of the Flash platform and the inherent security problems with the application to explain why Flash was not supported on iOS
Adobe created the Adobe AIR environment as a means to appease Apple’s concerns, and spent time legally fighting Apple over terms of its App Store to allow AIR to be used on the iOS.
While Adobe eventually won, allowing for other third-party development environments to get access to the iOS, Apple’s decision to block Flash itself was considered the “death blow” to the Flash application
In November 2011, about a year after Jobs’ open letter, Adobe announced it would no longer be developing Flash and advised developers to switch to HTML5
In 2011, Adobe ended support for Flash on Android.[62]
Adobe stated that Flash platform was transitioning to Adobe AIR and OpenFL, a multi-target open-source implementation of the Flash API.[63]
In 2015, Adobe rebranded Flash Professional, the main Flash authoring environment, as Adobe Animate to emphasize its expanded support for HTML5 authoring, and stated that it would “encourage content creators to build with new web standards” rather than use ‘flash’
In July 2017, Adobe deprecated Flash, and announced its End-Of-Life (EOL) at the end of 2020, and will cease support, distribution, and security updates for Flash Player
With Flash’s EOL announced, many browsers took steps to gradually restrict Flash content (caution users before launching it, eventually blocking all content without an option to play it).
By January 2021, all major browsers were blocking all Flash content unconditionally.
Only IE11, niche browser forks, and some browsers built for China plan to continue support.
Furthermore, excluding the China variant of Flash, Flash execution software has a built-in kill switch which prevents it from playing Flash after January 12, 2021
In January 2021, Microsoft released an optional update KB4577586 which removes Flash Player from Windows;
in July 2021 this update will be pushed out as a security update and applied automatically to all remaining systems
.
.
Post EOL support
Main article: Adobe Flash Player § Post-EOL support
Adobe Flash will still be supported in China and worldwide on some specialized enterprise platforms beyond 2020
.
Content preservation projects
As early as 2014, around the same time that Adobe began encouraging Flash developers to transition their works to HTML5 standards, others began efforts to preserve existing Flash content through emulation of Flash in open standards.
While some Flash applications were utilitarian, several applications had been shown to be experimental art, while others had laid the foundation of the independent video game development
An early project was Mozilla’s Shumway, an open source project that attempted to emulate the Flash standard in HTML5, but the project was shuttered as the team found that more developers were switching to HTML5 than seeking to keep their content in Flash, coupled with the difficulties in assuring full compatibility.
Google had developed the Swiffy application, released in 2014, to convert Flash applications to HTML5-compatible scripts for viewing on mobile devices but which was shut down in 2016
Closer to Flash’s EOL date in 2020, there were more concentrated efforts simply to preserve existing Flash applications, including websites, video games, and animations beyond Flash’s EOL
The Internet Archive introduced Ruffle and Emularity Flash emulators to emulate Flash games and animations without the security holes in November 2020, opening a new collection for creators and users to save and preserve Flash content
The Flashpoint project collected more than 38,000 Flash applications, excluding those that were commercial products, and offered as a large freely available archive for users to download
.
Kongregate, one of the larger sites that offered Flash games, has been working with the Strong Museum of Play to preserve its games
.
.
.
.
👈👈👈☜*“ADOBE CREATIVE SUITE”* ☞ 👉👉👉
.
.
💕💝💖💓🖤💙🖤💙🖤💙🖤❤️💚💛🧡❣️💞💔💘❣️🧡💛💚❤️🖤💜🖤💙🖤💙🖤💗💖💝💘
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*🌈✨ *TABLE OF CONTENTS* ✨🌷*
.
.
🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥*we won the war* 🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥