Flash open source: A request published in GitHub asks Adobe to release Flash in the hands of the open source community. Finnish developer Juha Lindstedt published the request, the next day announced by Adobe ending application support until the end of 2020.
"Flash is an important part of the history of the Internet, and its removal means that future generations will not be able to access the past," Lindstedt says in the opening paragraph of the petition. "The games, experiments and websites will be forgotten.”
In short, the developer is asking Adobe to license Flash or parts of its technology so that the open source community can develop and release a version of Flash Plugin or at least create a tool that can accurately convert old SWF and FLA files to modern HTML5, canvas data, or WebAssembly code.
The aim of this project will be to ensure that a large chunk of archived web content, movies or games will not die from 2020 onwards as the preletterτα περιήγησης θα εξελιχθούν και το Flash θα είναι ασύμβατο με τη σύγχρονη τεχνολογία.
"Another possibility would be to have a separate browser," Lindstedt said, citing possible solutions to support older Flash content. "I don't know how, but that's the beauty of open source: you never know what will happen after you open source!"
"We understand there are licensed components that you can't afford, just leave them out with a note explaining what was removed, and we'll either bypass them or replace them with open source alternatives," the developer added.
Lindstedt asks Internet users to sign the request at GitHub. Until the time of writing, the request has collected over 3.145 stars.
The reaction from the open source community has been mixed, with some welcoming Lindstedt's efforts to save some of our history on the Internet while others disapprove of the developer, citing the endless vulnerabilities of Flash.
Meanwhile Apple, Facebook, Google, Microsoft and the Mozilla Foundation have announced plans to remove Adobe's app from products them until 2020.
