Author Topic: Flash be gone?  (Read 2547 times)

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Offline Notsorusty

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Flash be gone?
« on: August 24, 2019, 05:24:17 PM »
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Chrome has recently started showing this notification on startup. Don't most Radar animations use Flash? I haven't seen this come up in this forum.

Station Name: Silver Creek II
Latitude / Longitude: 41.925° N, -87.872° W
Elevation: 633
City: Franklin Park
State: IL
Hardware: Ambient Weather WS-2902D

Offline chief-david

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Re: Flash be gone?
« Reply #1 on: August 24, 2019, 07:21:20 PM »
there have been a lot of posts about it here and on the Weather Display forum. But it looks like Chrome is driving more nails in the coffin. 

It will cause massive issues.  Seeing my security camera on a compute--it runs on flash.
WDL is flash. There is an HTML5 version-but I have a display I run-it will not be usable anymore.

Puffin browser runs flash.



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Offline vreihen

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Re: Flash be gone?
« Reply #2 on: August 24, 2019, 09:29:03 PM »
Good riddance!  The Internet will surely be a safer place without it.....
WU Gold Stars for everyone! :lol:

Offline Notsorusty

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Re: Flash be gone?
« Reply #3 on: August 25, 2019, 08:46:16 PM »
I did a search on this forum for Flash before posting and only found some references to flash and many of them were several years old. None appeared to be discussing the demise of flash and its repercussions. Please fill me in, what evil has flash wrought?
Station Name: Silver Creek II
Latitude / Longitude: 41.925° N, -87.872° W
Elevation: 633
City: Franklin Park
State: IL
Hardware: Ambient Weather WS-2902D

Offline galfert

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Re: Flash be gone?
« Reply #4 on: August 25, 2019, 08:54:09 PM »
Good riddance!  The Internet will surely be a safer place without it.....

...and faster
...and greener
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Offline Theo

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Re: Flash be gone?
« Reply #5 on: August 25, 2019, 09:02:51 PM »
Adobe announced the end of Flash in 2017 with a drop dead date of 2020.  Flash is horribly insure and I have had it disabled on all of my devices for years (Apple iOS has NEVER supported Flash).  Any maps/other content you are consuming with Flash should be avoided as Flash has been the single most insecure product to ever exist on the Internet.

Offline galfert

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Re: Flash be gone?
« Reply #6 on: August 25, 2019, 09:03:39 PM »
I did a search on this forum for Flash before posting and only found some references to flash and many of them were several years old. None appeared to be discussing the demise of flash and its repercussions. Please fill me in, what evil has flash wrought?

....oh where do I begin.....

- Flash is full of security holes. Impossible to keep patched up
- It is very resource intensive....meaning it sucks CPU cycles, means it makes your computer slower for other tasks
- Being resource intensive means it consumes more power, wasted energy cost more, kills batteries, not good for the environment, produces more heat, wears down computer parts like fans and hence kills computers faster
- Flash is crude and not as powerful as HTML5
- Flash requires a plug-in and HTML5 is baked into browser technology and requires no plug-in
- Flash doesn't work on mobile devices (well at least not without customization)

The end of Flash is nothing new....Some say killing Flash was something that Steve Jobs spearheaded to get rid of it by making the iPhone not support it...that right there tells you its been a long time as it was back when he was still alive and when the iPhone launched (2007). That was very painful for early iPhone adoption to not support Flash. Back then so much of the web was Flash based that the iPhone was pretty limiting device to have. Now it isn't such a big deal as like I said it has been a long time coming.

HTML5 is the future ...for now. Like with anything dealing with technology....evolve and adapt or become obsolete. Flash was not fixable....HTML5 was designed as the technology to bring on the next generation of the Internet.
« Last Edit: August 25, 2019, 09:08:24 PM by galfert »
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Offline Notsorusty

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Re: Flash be gone?
« Reply #7 on: August 26, 2019, 05:38:50 PM »
Please keep in mind that I am a computer user and a weather hobbyist. I don't do programming or analyze data tables. I did another search of this forum under Java and did find more information regarding the problems with Java and Flash. I also really appreciate your expanded explanation for the issues with Flash and I now understand the basic problem. However I am wondering what, if anything, will be happening with the existing NEXRAD radar and other sites that use Flash. Will they be just become unavailable or (very unlikely) are the developers of those sites feverishly working on reprogramming their sites using HTML5 or another acceptable format?
Station Name: Silver Creek II
Latitude / Longitude: 41.925° N, -87.872° W
Elevation: 633
City: Franklin Park
State: IL
Hardware: Ambient Weather WS-2902D

Offline galfert

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Re: Flash be gone?
« Reply #8 on: August 26, 2019, 05:52:13 PM »
I would hope that any website that still uses Flash has developers working feverishly to build new websites with HTML5. The writing is on the wall.

It has been some time since Google made Chrome disable Flash by default. You can still work around it by manually turning it back on. BUT come 2020 Google has already said that it will completely remove Flash from Chrome. Microsoft is almost ready to release their updated Edge browser that has been completely rewritten to use the Chromium engine from Google Chrome. That probably means that Edge will also not be supporting Flash.

There is no excuse for the few straggler websites to at this point in time to still be using Flash. They have had years to embrace this change.

You ask what will happen. If there is a website today with Flash and you can't live without it then I suggest contacting the owners of the website and demand that they replace their Flash content with HTML5 content.
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Offline vreihen

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Re: Flash be gone?
« Reply #9 on: August 26, 2019, 06:05:38 PM »
There is no excuse for the few straggler websites to at this point in time to still be using Flash. They have had years to embrace this change.

Unfortunately, it is still embedded into the management firmware of some pretty expensive network devices.  The future may very well wind up being just like dealing with those sites coded for old versions of Internet Explorer, where the people who still need to use unconverted Flash applications will need to use an old unsecure/unpatched browser for that specific function.....
WU Gold Stars for everyone! :lol:

Offline Theo

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Re: Flash be gone?
« Reply #10 on: August 26, 2019, 09:37:57 PM »
Unfortunately, it is still embedded into the management firmware of some pretty expensive network devices.  The future may very well wind up being just like dealing with those sites coded for old versions of Internet Explorer, where the people who still need to use unconverted Flash applications will need to use an old unsecure/unpatched browser for that specific function.....

That is largely being phased out.  Since Adobe is officially killing it in 2020, those expensive network gear providers really aren;t going to have a choice.  Most providers my company uses have moved to html5 years ago.  The only flash system I am aware is for McAfee's management console and it is on their roadmap for this year to phase it out.

Offline Notsorusty

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Re: Flash be gone?
« Reply #11 on: August 28, 2019, 05:31:26 PM »
I sent an email to College of DuPage - Nexlab and actually received a response from Mike, Meteorology Support Analyst:

We are aware that some browsers, such as Chrome, have recently been much more verbal on the subject.  You can rest assured that we will have fully replaced Flash on our site by the end of 2020.  There is no ETA on this presently; we are a small team and currently all dedicated to other higher priorities.  But this is something we will be addressing next chance we get.

Best,

-Mike
Station Name: Silver Creek II
Latitude / Longitude: 41.925° N, -87.872° W
Elevation: 633
City: Franklin Park
State: IL
Hardware: Ambient Weather WS-2902D

Offline galfert

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Re: Flash be gone?
« Reply #12 on: August 28, 2019, 07:16:29 PM »
I sent an email to College of DuPage - Nexlab and actually received a response from Mike, Meteorology Support Analyst:

We are aware that some browsers, such as Chrome, have recently been much more verbal on the subject.  You can rest assured that we will have fully replaced Flash on our site by the end of 2020.  There is no ETA on this presently; we are a small team and currently all dedicated to other higher priorities.  But this is something we will be addressing next chance we get.

Best,

-Mike


Nothing like waiting till the last second. SMH.
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Offline Bunty

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Re: Flash be gone?
« Reply #13 on: November 12, 2019, 08:58:13 PM »
I sent an email to College of DuPage - Nexlab and actually received a response from Mike, Meteorology Support Analyst:

We are aware that some browsers, such as Chrome, have recently been much more verbal on the subject.  You can rest assured that we will have fully replaced Flash on our site by the end of 2020.  There is no ETA on this presently; we are a small team and currently all dedicated to other higher priorities.  But this is something we will be addressing next chance we get.

Best,

-Mike


So I guess that's why WU, YoWindow and other sites still haven't gotten rid of Flash.  They are "dedicated to higher priorities."

What YoWindow wrote about the matter on Mar. 16, 2017, "Sorry, we cannot find time to develop YoWindow in HTML 5 yet."

While I don't know for a fact, I bet another good reason for web site owners to get rid of Flash is Google will rate it lower in search results.
« Last Edit: November 12, 2019, 09:14:18 PM by Bunty »

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Offline SoMDWx

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Re: Flash be gone?
« Reply #14 on: November 13, 2019, 05:59:24 AM »
I sent an email to College of DuPage - Nexlab and actually received a response from Mike, Meteorology Support Analyst:

We are aware that some browsers, such as Chrome, have recently been much more verbal on the subject.  You can rest assured that we will have fully replaced Flash on our site by the end of 2020.  There is no ETA on this presently; we are a small team and currently all dedicated to other higher priorities.  But this is something we will be addressing next chance we get.

Best,

-Mike


Nothing like waiting till the last second. SMH.

No. AS stated, they have bigger issues to address, not the whims of some amateur weather followers....

Offline Notsorusty

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Re: Flash be gone?
« Reply #15 on: August 31, 2020, 04:47:46 PM »
Doing my daily check of the College of DuPage/NEXRAD page this afternoon and, lookie there! Flash is gone and replaced with their updated programming. The site has changed and it seems snappier than before.

https://weather.cod.edu/satrad/nexrad/

They beat the deadline by a few months.

Station Name: Silver Creek II
Latitude / Longitude: 41.925° N, -87.872° W
Elevation: 633
City: Franklin Park
State: IL
Hardware: Ambient Weather WS-2902D

Offline CW2274

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Re: Flash be gone?
« Reply #16 on: August 31, 2020, 05:17:45 PM »
Doing my daily check of the College of DuPage/NEXRAD page this afternoon and, lookie there! Flash is gone and replaced with their updated programming. The site has changed and it seems snappier than before.

https://weather.cod.edu/satrad/nexrad/

They beat the deadline by a few months.
Beat ya to it... ;)

https://www.wxforum.net/index.php?topic=40315.0