Tech companies have been trying to kill Adobe Flash for almost a decade, but just like every great horror villain, this scourge of our web nightmares just refuses to die.
Google, which has been among those leading the charge in recent years, has hatched its latest plan to bury Flash once and for all, by blocking it within forthcoming versions of the Chrome web browser.
Chrome 53, which is released next month, will begin to block Flash content; de-emphasising it in favour of HTML5, which is faster, more efficient and more secure.
Google says Flash is doing little for every day web users, except slowing down our devices.
Related: How Microsoft, Google and Mozilla are destroying Flash
“Today, more than 90% of Flash on the web loads behind the scenes to support things like page analytics,” it wrote on the Chrome blog.
“This kind of Flash slows you down, and starting this September, Chrome 53 will begin to block it. HTML5 is much lighter and faster, and publishers are switching over to speed up page loading and save you more battery life. You’ll see an improvement in responsiveness and efficiency for many sites.”
This all follows-on from Chrome 42, which saw some Flash content become click-to-play.
Do you think the web will ever be totally rid of Flash? Can Google, seemingly aided by Adobe, kill it once and for all? Will Flash ever truly die unless the likes of Google Chrome no longer give users the option to view it period?
Share your thoughts in the comments section below.
Watch The Refresh: The latest tech gossip every week
Editorial independence
Editorial independence means being able to give an unbiased verdict about a product or company, with the avoidance of conflicts of interest. To ensure this is possible, every member of the editorial staff follows a clear code of conduct.
Professional conduct
We also expect our journalists to follow clear ethical standards in their work. Our staff members must strive for honesty and accuracy in everything they do. We follow the IPSO Editors’ code of practice to underpin these standards.
Editorial independence
Editorial independence means being able to give an unbiased verdict about a product or company, with the avoidance of conflicts of interest. To ensure this is possible, every member of the editorial staff follows a clear code of conduct.
Professional conduct
We also expect our journalists to follow clear ethical standards in their work. Our staff members must strive for honesty and accuracy in everything they do. We follow the IPSO Editors’ code of practice to underpin these standards.