Archive for February, 2012

Adobe and Google Partnering for Flash Player on Linux

Posted on February 22, 2012 by Mike Chambers | Comments (3)

As discussed in the just released Adobe roadmap for the Flash runtimes, Adobe has been working closely with Google to develop a single modern API for hosting plugins within the browser (one which could replace the current Netscape plugin API being used by the Flash Player). The PPAPI, code-named “Pepper” aims to provide a layer between the plugin and browser that abstracts away differences between browser and operating system implementations.

Because of this work, Adobe has been able to partner with Google in providing a “Pepper” implementation of Flash Player for all x86/64 platforms supported by the Google Chrome browser. Google will begin distributing this new Pepper-based Flash Player as part of Chrome on all platforms, including Linux, later this year.

For Flash Player releases after 11.2, the Flash Player browser plugin for Linux will only be available via the “Pepper” API as part of the Google Chrome browser distribution and will no longer be available as a direct download from Adobe. Adobe will continue to provide security updates to non-Pepper distributions of Flash Player 11.2 on Linux for five years from its release.

Flash Player will continue to support browsers using non-”Pepper” plugin APIs on platforms other than Linux.

We will be providing a debug player implementation of the Flash Player browser plugin on Linux, and will update the whitepaper once we have more details on how it will be distributed.

Flash – Chrome for Android Beta

Posted on February 6, 2012 by Bill Howard | Comments (0)

Today Google introduced Chrome for Android Beta. As we announced last November, Adobe is no longer developing Flash Player for mobile browsers, and thus Chrome for Android Beta does not support Flash content. Flash Player continues to be supported within the current Android browser.

Adobe is committed to innovating with Flash. We’ll continue enabling content developers to produce rich and immersive applications on mobile devices and PCs via Adobe AIR, and through PC browsers via Flash Player. Flash is uniquely positioned for creating and publishing advanced gaming and premium video content, and that is where we’re focusing our future investment. We recently released hardware accelerated support for 2D and 3D graphics for Flash Player on the desktop and will soon bring these same capabilities to mobile apps via AIR. Together with recent advancements in hardware accelerated video decoding, compositing and content protection, these capabilities provide the richest platform for game developers and video publishers to reach over a billion users across PCs and major mobile app stores, including the iTunes App Store and Android Market.

At the same time, we’re actively working to move HTML5 forward via our ongoing collaboration with Google and other members of the Web community. Adobe’s proposal for CSS Regions, which allows sophisticated, magazine-like page layouts on the web, is now shipping in the Chrome browser. We’re collaborating with Google and other members of the Web community on a proposal for CSS Shaders to enable cinematic, visual effects via HTML5 and we’re exploring the potential of its Shadow DOM proposal, which would enable the integration of rich user interface components in web pages.

We continue to work on ways to make the Web more expressive, drawing on our experience with Flash. Adobe has always been about enabling content developers to produce the richest content possible and we remain committed to that end across platforms and technologies.

Bill Howard, Flash Platform, Product Management