Google released Chrome 88 today, permanently removing support for Adobe Flash Player and ending an entire Internet era.
Adobe Flash officially reached the end of its life (EoL) on December 31, 2020, when Adobe stopped supporting the software. On January 12, Adobe also began blocking content playback in Flash.
Google isn't alone company which stops supporting Flash. The decision was made along with Adobe and other browser makers such as Apple, Mozilla and Microsoft, as of 2017. Apple and Mozilla have already stopped supporting Flash, and Microsoft plans to end support later this year. month.
At present, according to web technology research site W3Techs, only 2,2% of today's websites use Flash, down from 28,5% in early 2011.
But today's version of Chrome 88 comes with more features, removal, bug fixes, and security updates. One of the most important changes is the removal of support for accessing FTP links (ftp: //) through Chrome.
With Chrome 88, Google also completed a project that started last year. With today's release, Chrome will now block certain downloads files via the HTTP protocol.
One case where Chrome will stop downloads is when a user accesses a webpage that starts with HTTPS, but the file they're trying to download comes from a URL that starts with HTTP. Chrome considers this case "mixed" and "unsafe" and Chrome 88 will completely block the download for protection of users.
