Firefox now "temporarily" blocking Flash

[uc50ic4more]

http://www.cbc.ca/news/trending/flash-blocked-firefox-1.3151045

Hopefully this hastens the death of this horrid piece of technology.

I've been blocking Flash content for years now; but have been able to click a tab to initiate the plugin when needed. This seems like a bit more of a heavy handed approach which I hope does not cause backlash toward Mozilla due to a lack of functionality (although, I suppose, iPhone users have been prohibited from using Flash forever and I do not see people freaking out over that).

 

[Drew99GT]

Flash or Firefox???

It seems Adobe has been putting out a lot of updates to flash in the past few months. At least Firefox tells users it needs to be updated.

 

[uc50ic4more]

Originally Posted By: Drew99GT
Flash or Firefox???

It seems Adobe has been putting out a lot of updates to flash in the past few months. At least Firefox tells users it needs to be updated.


Firefox is now blocking - and not elegantly or politely - the Flash plugin from running due to whatever Flash security concern is dominant at the moment. It seems perhaps Firefox has gone from telling folks they need to update Flash to telling them they should not be using it at all!

 

[sleddriver]

FF has been doing that on my confuser for quite a while now. It's annoying due to its regularity, I can't keep up with Adobe fixes, and in 2015 why isn't HTML5 more wide-spread?

I do remember the chattering classes complaints when iPhones wouldn't run Flash.....gee, I wonder why?

 

[SwampSurvivor]

It's amazing how one company can continue to publish such a bad piece of software for so long

 

[Bandito440]

All I had to do was update Flash, and now Firefox is running it again. I think it's just the old versions of Flash that were blocked.

 

[uc50ic4more]

Originally Posted By: Bandito440
All I had to do was update Flash, and now Firefox is running it again. I think it's just the old versions of Flash that were blocked.


I believe there'll soon be an update to Firefox (let's say, for example, 39 to 39.05); and that new versions is the one that will be blocking Flash.

 

[Quattro Pete]

What's the latest version of Flash plug-in for FF? My FF is claiming I already have the latest Flash plug-in version, yet it is blocking it.

 

[uc50ic4more]

Originally Posted By: Miller88
It's amazing how one company can continue to publish such a bad piece of software for so long


Holding a monopoly afforded them that luxury. Such is the disadvantage for us users using closed-source software like Flash: no one could improve upon it and no one could make and distribute a competing application. Flash exists for the benefit of (first Macromedia, then) Adobe, not us.

 

[Donald]

Flash has another zero day vulnerability. What a surprise.

Today I went to a bank's website to view a check image. With FF it said it needed a plug-in but did not say which nor have any option to load a plug-in.

IE complained that Java was missing.

I called the bank and had them read me the image.

Then lectured them about requiring unsecure software to view images.

 

[uc50ic4more]

Originally Posted By: Quattro Pete
What's the latest version of Flash plug-in for FF? My FF is claiming I already have the latest Flash plug-in version, yet it is blocking it.


If your Firefox is up-to-the-minute updated (check its version), it is blocking Flash now regardless of whether or not the Flash plugin is up-to-date. No more warnings about Flash needing an update: It is now "no Flash at all for you".

I thought the latest plugin was at 19 (EDIT: 18 - https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/blocked/p946) for Windows and Mac; Linux development was stopped at 11.

 

[Triple_Se7en]

Originally Posted By: Quattro Pete
What's the latest version of Flash plug-in for FF? My FF is claiming I already have the latest Flash plug-in version, yet it is blocking it.


18,0,0,209

 

[uc50ic4more]

Originally Posted By: sleddriver
and in 2015 why isn't HTML5 more wide-spread?


A lot of companies have invested a lot of time and money into Flash-based media delivery; and that doesn't change overnight. Nor over a decade, sadly. I am not sure anyone making any new sites in 2015, nor for the last several years, legitimately looks at Flash as a viable, professional tool.

 

[Quattro Pete]

Originally Posted By: Triple_Se7en
Originally Posted By: Quattro Pete
What's the latest version of Flash plug-in for FF? My FF is claiming I already have the latest Flash plug-in version, yet it is blocking it.


18,0,0,209

Thanks. I had 18.0.0.203 on there, but my FF was telling me no plug-in updates were available. I had to go and download the latest Flash plugin from Adobe directly.

 

[Triple_Se7en]

Originally Posted By: uc50ic4more
Originally Posted By: sleddriver
and in 2015 why isn't HTML5 more wide-spread?


A lot of companies have invested a lot of time and money into Flash-based media delivery; and that doesn't change overnight. Nor over a decade, sadly. I am not sure anyone making any new sites in 2015, nor for the last several years, legitimately looks at Flash as a viable, professional tool.


If that's the case, then what do you suggest Firefox users switch to, for a player that works with every type of media I click-on to, during my many website-surfing visits.

Please name one or two, as good or better than my current Flashplayer?

BTW.... after Firefox users download the latest Flashplayer 18,0,0,209, they must do a system restart for their add-on plug-in to register the change.

 

[Y_K]

At least, one can switch Youtube to HTML5

 

[tinmanSC]

I'm starting to agree with Apple, Firefox and Facebook. Flash should just go away as an Internet technology. Too many problems, too many security issues, too many companies moving away from it, too many mobile platforms not supporting it, and on top of that it's becoming a memory hog.

I think people should remove Flash from their pages. Hey BITOG admins! I'm looking at you!

 

[wymi516]

I call it Crashplayer!

 

[uc50ic4more]

Originally Posted By: Triple_Se7en
Please name one or two, as good or better than my current Flashplayer?


If you want to play Flash content, **you have no choice but to use the Flash plugin**. That, in a nutshell, is the crux of the problem; especially when the plugin is riddled with security holes, suffers from poor performance and is closed-source.

In the Linux world there are a few incomplete, half-baked reverse-engineered Flash players out there but only gluttons for punishment dare use them.

As long as some legacy sites keep using this thing we'll probably all need to keep it installed. The trend is for people to dump it and use HTML5 technologies instead; but as I said earlier in this thread, these transitions that take place when a technology slides into the oblivion of obsolescence can take longer than it should.

Originally Posted By: Triple_Se7en
If that's the case, then what do you suggest Firefox users switch to, for a player that works with every type of media I click-on to, during my many website-surfing visits.


Unless and until Mozilla has Firefox unblock Flash, you may have to use Chrome (which has a Flash player "baked in" to it) or (gulp) Internet Explorer. iPhones have never, ever allowed Flash and they seem to be functional.

This decision Mozilla has made is a major statement!

 

[uc50ic4more]

Originally Posted By: Triple_Se7en
Originally Posted By: Quattro Pete
What's the latest version of Flash plug-in for FF? My FF is claiming I already have the latest Flash plug-in version, yet it is blocking it.


18,0,0,209


Adobe just released this one which addressed the vulnerability that finally drove Mozilla over the edge. Apparently Firefox no longer blocks Flash if you have this version.