Adobe releases Flash Player 10.1 for Mac
Adobe has declared its 10.1 release of Flash Player a Golden Master and is now serving it as the default Flash Player download after more than six months of beta testing.
The new Universal Binary Flash 10.1 works with Firefox, Opera and Safari and fixes a variety of outstanding problems. Chrome is notably absent from Adobe's list of supported browsers on the Mac. The 10.1 release is also being offered for Windows, Linux and Solaris users, along with a beta version that works with Android 2.2.
The latest Safari 5 ships with Flash Player 10.0; Mac users wanting to upgrade to the latest version of Flash can do so at Adobe's download site.
Flash privacy failure
Among the new features of Flash 10.1 is support for browser privacy features, which prevent Flash local data and browsing activity from persisting locally if the user has turned on the private browsing feature.
However, Adobe says this feature is not supported for Opera or Safari, meaning that Flash content won't respect users' private browsing preferences.
Another feature of Flash 10.1 is new DRM content protection that limits playback of video content over analog or digital outputs. However, that feature is only enforced on Windows.
Preview support for hardware accelerated video
The new Flash Player 10.1 release doesn't yet include official support for hardware video acceleration, a new feature Apple just enabled Adobe to provide with new Mac OS X APIs.
However, Adobe is making its second preview release of "Gala" H.264 hardware decoding available for download for users who want to try it out.
The new H.264 hardware acceleration will enable new Flash videos encoded using H.264 to play more efficiently on Mac hardware, as QuickTime X already does for raw, non-Flash H.264 video for users with modern Macs (equipped with NVIDIA 9400M or better graphics) and Snow Leopard.
Mobile beta for Android
A second beta release for Android 2.2 was also released, along with the claim by Adobe that more than 250 million smartphones would be able to run Flash Player by 2012, also phrased as 53% of the 300 million smartphones it expects to be sold two years from now.
Adobe also said it plans to bring Flash Player to HP's Palm OS, Microsoft's Windows Phone 7, Nokia's Symbian OS, and RIM's BlackBerry OS at some point in the future. Apple has passed on supporting a version of Flash Player for its iOS devices, with the company's chief executive Steve Jobs saying recently that Adobe failed to ever demonstrate a version of Flash Player that could perform well enough to include on the iPhone.
The new Universal Binary Flash 10.1 works with Firefox, Opera and Safari and fixes a variety of outstanding problems. Chrome is notably absent from Adobe's list of supported browsers on the Mac. The 10.1 release is also being offered for Windows, Linux and Solaris users, along with a beta version that works with Android 2.2.
The latest Safari 5 ships with Flash Player 10.0; Mac users wanting to upgrade to the latest version of Flash can do so at Adobe's download site.
Flash privacy failure
Among the new features of Flash 10.1 is support for browser privacy features, which prevent Flash local data and browsing activity from persisting locally if the user has turned on the private browsing feature.
However, Adobe says this feature is not supported for Opera or Safari, meaning that Flash content won't respect users' private browsing preferences.
Another feature of Flash 10.1 is new DRM content protection that limits playback of video content over analog or digital outputs. However, that feature is only enforced on Windows.
Preview support for hardware accelerated video
The new Flash Player 10.1 release doesn't yet include official support for hardware video acceleration, a new feature Apple just enabled Adobe to provide with new Mac OS X APIs.
However, Adobe is making its second preview release of "Gala" H.264 hardware decoding available for download for users who want to try it out.
The new H.264 hardware acceleration will enable new Flash videos encoded using H.264 to play more efficiently on Mac hardware, as QuickTime X already does for raw, non-Flash H.264 video for users with modern Macs (equipped with NVIDIA 9400M or better graphics) and Snow Leopard.
Mobile beta for Android
A second beta release for Android 2.2 was also released, along with the claim by Adobe that more than 250 million smartphones would be able to run Flash Player by 2012, also phrased as 53% of the 300 million smartphones it expects to be sold two years from now.
Adobe also said it plans to bring Flash Player to HP's Palm OS, Microsoft's Windows Phone 7, Nokia's Symbian OS, and RIM's BlackBerry OS at some point in the future. Apple has passed on supporting a version of Flash Player for its iOS devices, with the company's chief executive Steve Jobs saying recently that Adobe failed to ever demonstrate a version of Flash Player that could perform well enough to include on the iPhone.
Comments
really, if they can't manage consistency with two of the major browsers out there, what exactly are they doing? Considering what they charge for most of their development software, you'd expect all of their software to be extremely well-maintained.
but the real question is... will it blend?
really, if they can't manage consistency with two of the major browsers out there, what exactly are they doing? Considering what they charge for most of their development software, you'd expect all of their software to be extremely well-maintained.
One would think so, yes. Unfortunately, the Adobe that all feared when they they bought out (crushed) Macromedia has come alive. It's the Microsoft of the early 90's, without the monopoly. An aging giant Adobe is, and it had better get its shit together before long or it will fade into history.
Unfortunately, it's not a heck of a lot better than 10.0. Running about100% CPU utilization on my Mac Mini (4 GB RAM, 2.5 GHz Core 2 Duo). The old version went to around 110-120% CPU utilization on a MacBook Pro with 2.33 GHz Core 2 Duo and 3 GB of RAM. The reduction in CPU usage is pretty much in line with system capabilities.
If it's still requiring 100% of a 2.5 GHz Core 2 Duo with 4 GB of RAM, why would anyone think it would ever work on an iPhone?
Another Adobe Fail.
Jobs is right -- they're lazy.
One would think so, yes. Unfortunately, the Adobe that all feared when they they bought out (crushed) Macromedia has come alive. It's the Microsoft of the early 90's, without the monopoly. An aging giant Adobe is, and it had better get its shit together before long or it will fade into history.
In fact, the reason Adobe makes such crap software is that they *do* have a monopoly.
If the anti-trust laws in the US had any teeth at all they would never have been allowed to buy out Macromedia. A clearer case for enforcing the anti-trust law couldn't have been made (well except for Microsoft having 90% plus of the OS market at the time).
What's with not supporting Chrome? That's one of Adobe's closest buddies.
I certainly won't go out of my way to pick-up this latest pile-o-crap. Jobs was right that Adobe has some lazy developers. Who releases such an incomplete product. Does anyone doubt the Steve'o now?
Like most stuff on my mac.
Adobe recently claimed that they will a Flash Player that will run on multiple mobile devices, so that developers can write one app that works on multiple platforms. Well, this release is further proof that their claim is BASELESS.
Flash 10.1 supposedly works on some platforms, offering varying degrees of functions to each platform or program. That really sucks!!! Who makes decisions at this CLUELESS company?
How about throwing a computer with each download?
THE WHOLE THING SMELLS BAD!!!
"Here it comes - ready or not"
I guess that if I had a product with a major zero-day security hole then I might hustle the new version out the door.
"Here it comes - ready or not"
It wasn't rushed out. Adobe had planned to ship by end of 1H2010, which is 20 days from now. The version they shipped was release candidate 7, which was first released June 2, before this zero-day flaw was announced, and they had been generating RCs about every 14 days. It had been in public beta for many months. I think the first reviews were last October or November.
I'm not a gamer, so the only thing I am missing so far has just been ads. Stuff like Hulu doesn't work for us in Canada anyway, so I'm not missing that anyway.
Does this mean it will be less likely to be secure somehow?
If you are using the Gala beta don't waste your time downloading this.