So… flash is gone

It was the paragon of any Android fan… we could always rely on that ace in the hole:  ”yeah, well at least we’ve got Flash support”.

Oi.

Well, as of today, Flash will no longer be ‘supported’ on Android.  It won’t even let you download it to a new device (if your old device had it, it can redownload it).

Sure, I’ll bet if a major security flaw is discovered, they’ll patch it.  And if you’re resourceful you’ll find an APK of the player and side-load it.  (look for my next article reminding you about our lists)

But, it just won’t be there any more… not like the ‘old days’.

We used to bask in the ‘full web experience’.  We laughed and scorned those who didn’t have it, because hey, it’s just another notch in the Android belt baby!

But no more.

Those excuses that the ‘others’ gave about “you don’t need it” or “html5 is better”.  We discounted those arguments, but we knew it was true.

I think up until last weekend I didn’t even realize I wasn’t using Flash.  I normally use the Chrome browser, which doesn’t support Flash, but there was a site that only had flash support (www.bbc.co.uk/worlds).  Thankfully I switched over to the standard browser to watch.  In all the time that Chrome has been out, I think that was the first time I noticed the ‘unsupported’ option for my browser of choice.

Normally when confronted with that kind of situation… if it’s a feature I hardly used, and then you’re taking it away… I would be alright.  But I find myself now counting the days until the next Worlds, and wondering if I’ll still have my Nexus, or my TF101… or the Logitech Revue.  If not, will the apk I find online be ‘as good’, or ‘good enough’ to watch just this one thing that I’d need it for.

Or, will website developers for the BBC go ahead and update their sites (or can I find a way to bypass the BBC iPlayer app and watch that way)?

Sure, I’ll survive, but there’ll always be that nagging feeling that we’ve lost something.  Something that was taken from us… sure, I’m over-dramatizing.

How about you?

Will you miss Flash on your browser (for those who use a compatible Android browser)?