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It's a damn shame that HTML5 implementations of Flash, like Shumway (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shumway_(software) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shumway_(sof

It's a damn shame that HTML5 implementations of Flash, like Shumway (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shumway_(software) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shumway_(software)) and Swiffy (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Google_Swiffy https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Google_Swiffy) are no longer being actively developed. I would have thought running SWFs in the JS sandbox would be a good way to get the compatibility of Flash, without the insane security bugs that it comes with. And in case anyone is still in doubt about Flash's security woes - take a gander at the Flash CVE page at https://www.cvedetails.com/vulnerability-list/vendor_id-53/product_id-6761/Adobe-Flash-Player.html https://www.cvedetails.com/vulnerability-list/vendor_id-53/p.... There were FIVE CVSS 10 bugs (total and complete remote code execution with minimal user interaction, i.e. visit a malicious page and your computer is owned) published just two months ago. The author of Flashpoint is absolutely correct in his assessment that Flash will be overrun with security bugs as soon as it hits EOL in 2020.

myfonj 8y ago
For those eager to directly witness some SWF running in JavaScript: http://mozilla.github.io/shumway/examples/racing/ http://mozilla.github.io/shumway/examples/racing/ (via aforementioned https://github.com/mozilla/shumway/ https://github.com/mozilla/shumway/ ) http://gordonjs.s3.amazonaws.com/trip.html http://gordonjs.s3.amazonaws.com/trip.html (via https://github.com/tobytailor/gordon/wiki https://github.com/tobytailor/gordon/wiki ) https://google-developers.appspot.com/swiffy/showcase/snake_afc48e2efc7dc4d4a7e6c221da976505.frame?hl=en https://google-developers.appspot.com/swiffy/showcase/snake_... (not reading SWF directly but running converted script; via https://developers.google.com/swiffy/showcase/ https://developers.google.com/swiffy/showcase/ )
clouddrover 8y ago
> I would have thought running SWFs in the JS sandbox would be a good way to get the compatibility of Flash And these days a WebAssembly build of Flash player would be an even better way, but it would depend on Adobe being willing to spend the time and the money to do it.
- azakai 8y ago
  Another option might be for them to open source the code and let others do the port. However, there might be legal barriers to doing that if they don't own the rights to it all.
  - tomysshadow 8y ago
    The thing is, Flash is still in use, just not on the web and it's not called Flash. It's called Adobe Animate. Adobe Animate, formerly Flash, is still in use for animating shows on television. Open sourcing Flash would mean creating a potential competitor with Animate, which Adobe surely doesn't want. The only reason Adobe would have to open source Flash is "out of the kindness of their hearts" which is not enough. This is nothing but a needlessly risky business venture to them.
    - comex 8y ago
      They wouldn’t need to open source the editor, only the player, so competing with Animate shouldn’t be an issue. But yes, there’s not much incentive to open source anything.
      - hatsunearu 8y ago
        Or they could get some of their lawyers to get together a libre but not commercially available license.
- nojvek 8y ago
  I’ve spent a ridiculous amount of time reverse engineering SWF files. There was even a time when Adobe published the SWF file bytecode format. It’s not a terribly complicated format like photoshop psd. WebAssembly is probably a good target. However flash added a ton of apis in their latest versions. They were so ahead of the game before html5 before even became a thing. I’m sure Adobe has patents/trademark on some of the things. Also Adobe Flex, that was a god send for rich internet applications. Their components were really well done and I still can’t fine equivalent things in this day and age. I do strongly believe if Adobe had open sourced big chunks of things, Flash and a number of technologies would still be relevant today. Their big money makers were the IDE’s like Flash Studio, dreamweaver, photoshop etc. The formats and the runtimes should have been open from the get go. Although it was the Ballmer era when most corporate CEOs truly believed OS was cancer.
bscphil 8y ago
Yes, we're in a different situation than people who preserve old console or PC games because those have a platform that is pretty much known and extensively documented. Even if you can't run the hardware anymore there are emulators that work great. It's harder on closed platforms like Nintendo. With Flash, I don't know that we'll ever have an open source desktop player to allow preserving these games and allowing them to play on all future platforms. You might as well ask someone to write a complete implementation of Java, with no access to the source code, for free. Eventually we'll probably be stuck with old virtualized editions of windows running old versions of Flash. Let alone the possibility of leaving x86 behind completely.

myfonj 8y ago

For those eager to directly witness some SWF running in JavaScript: http://mozilla.github.io/shumway/examples/racing/ http://mozilla.github.io/shumway/examples/racing/ (via aforementioned https://github.com/mozilla/shumway/ https://github.com/mozilla/shumway/ ) http://gordonjs.s3.amazonaws.com/trip.html http://gordonjs.s3.amazonaws.com/trip.html (via https://github.com/tobytailor/gordon/wiki https://github.com/tobytailor/gordon/wiki ) https://google-developers.appspot.com/swiffy/showcase/snake_afc48e2efc7dc4d4a7e6c221da976505.frame?hl=en https://google-developers.appspot.com/swiffy/showcase/snake_... (not reading SWF directly but running converted script; via https://developers.google.com/swiffy/showcase/ https://developers.google.com/swiffy/showcase/ )

clouddrover 8y ago

> I would have thought running SWFs in the JS sandbox would be a good way to get the compatibility of Flash And these days a WebAssembly build of Flash player would be an even better way, but it would depend on Adobe being willing to spend the time and the money to do it.

azakai 8y ago
Another option might be for them to open source the code and let others do the port. However, there might be legal barriers to doing that if they don't own the rights to it all.
- tomysshadow 8y ago
  The thing is, Flash is still in use, just not on the web and it's not called Flash. It's called Adobe Animate. Adobe Animate, formerly Flash, is still in use for animating shows on television. Open sourcing Flash would mean creating a potential competitor with Animate, which Adobe surely doesn't want. The only reason Adobe would have to open source Flash is "out of the kindness of their hearts" which is not enough. This is nothing but a needlessly risky business venture to them.
  - comex 8y ago
    They wouldn’t need to open source the editor, only the player, so competing with Animate shouldn’t be an issue. But yes, there’s not much incentive to open source anything.
    - hatsunearu 8y ago
      Or they could get some of their lawyers to get together a libre but not commercially available license.
nojvek 8y ago
I’ve spent a ridiculous amount of time reverse engineering SWF files. There was even a time when Adobe published the SWF file bytecode format. It’s not a terribly complicated format like photoshop psd. WebAssembly is probably a good target. However flash added a ton of apis in their latest versions. They were so ahead of the game before html5 before even became a thing. I’m sure Adobe has patents/trademark on some of the things. Also Adobe Flex, that was a god send for rich internet applications. Their components were really well done and I still can’t fine equivalent things in this day and age. I do strongly believe if Adobe had open sourced big chunks of things, Flash and a number of technologies would still be relevant today. Their big money makers were the IDE’s like Flash Studio, dreamweaver, photoshop etc. The formats and the runtimes should have been open from the get go. Although it was the Ballmer era when most corporate CEOs truly believed OS was cancer.

bscphil 8y ago

Yes, we're in a different situation than people who preserve old console or PC games because those have a platform that is pretty much known and extensively documented. Even if you can't run the hardware anymore there are emulators that work great. It's harder on closed platforms like Nintendo. With Flash, I don't know that we'll ever have an open source desktop player to allow preserving these games and allowing them to play on all future platforms. You might as well ask someone to write a complete implementation of Java, with no access to the source code, for free. Eventually we'll probably be stuck with old virtualized editions of windows running old versions of Flash. Let alone the possibility of leaving x86 behind completely.