Adobe Flash is on its way out. This is what the end of an era feels like. The majority of the browsers have already been pulling support for years now, and finally, the doomsday is getting closer with each passing day. Adobe has announced that it would be stopping development and support by December 2019. This news came off as a surprise to most people out there.
This means that by the end of this year, the browsers won’t be able to access Flash content on the web. There will be no longer videos, games, vintage Flash sites, nothing. If this were happening like it is planned to happen, we would have to think of a better alternative. But, before we delve into the intricate details, you must get familiar with the reason for Flash going away.
Contributions of Adobe Flash for the digital world
In the early days of the web, Flash served an essential role, offering interactive and graphical capabilities that simply had no equivalent in plain HTML and Javascript.
The doom of Flash
A raft of technologies- canvas for 2D graphics, WebGL for 3D graphics, HTML5’s video, and audio tags, Javascript interfaces for microphones, and webcams, among others- have gradually eliminated the need for Flash. And most recently, the support for DRM protected video being incorporated into HTML5 has mostly eliminated the need for Flash.
Together with Facebook, Apple, Google, Microsoft, and Mozilla Firefox, Adobe has planned an end-of-life type browser plugin. This plugin will be fully supported and maintained until the end of 2020. Chrome and Edge would continue to embed and patch the plugin. According to a statement, Adobe posed, it will move to end the support and use of the plugin more aggressively in certain geographies.
Why is Flash going away?
The primary reason behind sunsetting Flash is security issues. Flash was once the standard for games, videos, and other Web content. However, lately, it has been technically prone to exploits. Its memory and other issues are some of the factors responsible for this vulnerability. The experts even pose the difficulty of integrating with mobile technology as another reason for Flash going away. Its lack of support on both IOS and Android and its tendency to suck power is also responsible for the lagging of the application.
And it had become a hassle keeping a piece of mostly-desktop software. And with HTML5 and WebGL becoming more functional than ever, Flash’s days were numbered.
When would Flash stop working?
There have not been any significant changes as of now. Most browsers still allow you to access Flash content on a case-by-case basis by manually approving it. But, as the year passes by, that option is also going to disappear. We cannot exactly say when that will happen as it depends on the browser you are using. They all have announced different timeframes for removing Flash support. If everything goes as planned, any Flash content left on the Internet will be inaccessible by the end of 2020.
Will I be able to access Flash Content?
You might think that you’ll not be able to access any remaining Flash content on the web, but that is not true. It will still be possible, but it’ll take some work. If your browser is up-to-date, you won’t be able to load Flash. But, if you are a genuinely desperate Flash fan, you could always use an older version of a browser. Blocking it from auto-updating and using it only for Flash content is the way to go.
This method comes with its own security issues. You must plunge into this method at your risk. Taking precautions like running it in a sandbox and visiting only sites that you trust can help you ensure security. Also, there may still be browsers like Firefox and Chromium forks that might allow you to keep running Flash in some form.
However, with Flash effectively off the web, sites that offer Flash-based content might not stay for very long. You might have to find alternatives and that too soon. You’ll either need to download the Flash file and use a desktop Flash player to open it or use Oracle OEM.
We recommend customers who are already using Oracle OEM in their environment to upgrade to 13.4 at the earliest. As Flash is being de-supported by all browsers and the OEM version prior to 13.3 has a dependency on Flash, this step needs to be taken. 13.3Oracle solution started leveraging JET pages, but there are still specific issues with rendering ASH pages with JET. Hence, we recommend that you consider upgrading to 13.4 at the earliest.
Here is the list of EM pages, which are Flash Dependent:
1. Performance Page (SI & RAC)
2. Top consumers (SI & RAC)
3. Top Activity Page (SI & RAC)
4. ASH Analytics Page
5. SQL Monitoring Page
6. SQL Details Page
7. Session Details Page
8. AWR Pages
9. Emergency Performance Page
10. Real-Time ADDM
11. Advisor Central –> ADDM Page
12. Cluster cache coherency page
13. Cluster cache coherency page –> Average Current Block Receive Time By Instance Page
14. Cluster cache coherency page –> Average Current Block Transfer Rate Page
15. Cluster cache coherency page –> Active Session History Page
16. Database Replay
Why is there a need for Oracle Enterprise Manager?
Oracle Enterprise Manager is Oracle’s on-premise management platform that provides a single dashboard to manage all of your Oracle deployments in the cloud or in your data center. It offers the customers the market-leading management and automation support for Oracle applications, middleware, hardware, databases, and engineered systems through deep-integration with Oracle’s product stack.
The latest update in the OEM plugin was released on April 28th, 2019. This new release comprises 8 new plugins, including a new version of the DB plugin. After installing these plugins, the users could notice several changes in behavior for the DB targets. Those changes were as follows:
- All pages that used Adobe Flash now use Oracle JavaScript Extension Toolkit(JET)
- Top activity and emergency performance pages were utterly removed from the performance menu.
At first, it seemed weird to use just ASH analytics instead of Top Activity Page, but all the required information was there. There is also an option to revert 3 JET pages back to Flash if needed. This can be done through emctl commands.
Why are enterprises choosing Oracle?
- Manufacturers and enterprises need robust solutions to align operations with budgets and financial targets.
- OEMs have the ability to innovate to thrive in an extremely competitive market continually.
- Oracle is critical in building brand loyalty.
- Oracle licensing enables OEMs to accelerate time to market, integrate marketing skills, sales, and service operations.
- Oracle offers complete and open cloud solutions.
- OEMs leverage Oracle product lifestyle solutions to accelerate product innovations.
- The comprehensive, integrated business planning solutions enable OEMs to align operational plans with budgetary and financial targets.
- This platform also offers rich user interfaces, industry-standard development environments, and co trolls with IoT solutions.
- Support lean and flexible manufacturing processes.
- Ensure in-time delivery
- Synchronize information and processes to respond to customer demand.
- Align sales forecasts and manufacturing plans across the enterprise.
- Produce, configure. And automate local-to-order capabilities.
- Facilitate tighter dealer collaboration by integrating marketing: sales and service.
- This platform can help you provide an exceptional customer experience throughout the ownership lifecycle.
- You can capture, qualify, and manage high-probability sales leads in collaboration with manufacturers.
These are some of the benefits of Oracle. And updating it to the latest version can be an ideal alternative to Flash.
Wrapping it up
Shutting down of Adobe Flash by the end of the year can be the biggest bummer for most of the industries and sectors. But that does not mean we cannot incorporate alternatives to make things work. Updating to the latest version of Oracle can allow you to run Flash files even without Adobe Flash.
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