Flash flaw could allow attackers to remotely control Macs and PCs, Adobe issues critical update

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Comments

  • Reply 21 of 47
    gtrgtr Posts: 3,231member
    Adobe Flash:

    A virus that you can install on your computer with a secondary feature that displays stuff for you.
  • Reply 22 of 47
    john.bjohn.b Posts: 2,742member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by pmz View Post

     

    Don't be ridiculous. It has a lot of useful and relevant applications...unfortunately those of you that are unaware of the world outside the Apple bubble have no idea and thus make comments like these.


     

    I live my entire work life "outside the Apple bubble".

     

    Quote:
    Originally Posted by pmz View Post



    Flash may suck, but it is still very important for a lot of sophisticated web applications and will continue to be for at least the next 5 years.

     

    I'm guessing the Flash developer among us just outed himself.     <img class=" src="http://forums-files.appleinsider.com/images/smilies//lol.gif" />

     

    And, yes, it is shameful that Adobe let this become their legacy.   On any given day, go to bing.com/news or (heaven forbid) news.google.com, type "Adobe" in the search box, and count the ratio of stories about Flash vulnerabilities to the total.   On second thought, "shameful" might be an understatement.

  • Reply 23 of 47
    pmzpmz Posts: 3,433member
    Quote:

    Originally Posted by John.B View Post

     

     

    I live my entire work life "outside the Apple bubble".

     

     

    I'm guessing the Flash developer among us just outed himself.     <img class=" src="http://forums-files.appleinsider.com/images/smilies//lol.gif" />

     

    And, yes, it is shameful that Adobe let this become their legacy.   On any given day, go to bing.com/news or (heaven forbid) news.google.com, type "Adobe" in the search box, and count the ratio of stories about Flash vulnerabilities to the total.   On second thought, "shameful" might be an understatement.


     

    I may not technically be a Flash developer, but I certainly work with several, and they are still able to do things in the swf that html5 cannot. Yet, I don't know a single Flash developer that doesn't have an "HTML5 plan" for the next few years.

     

    While the Apple-ites (of which I'm normally one) seem to think Flash is dead...the reality it, No. Its not. Not yet. But in approximately 5 years, it will be, mostly dead.

  • Reply 24 of 47
    john.bjohn.b Posts: 2,742member
    Quote:

    Originally Posted by pmz View Post

     

    I may not technically be a Flash developer, but I certainly work with several, and they are still able to do things in the swf that html5 cannot. Yet, I don't know a single Flash developer that doesn't have an "HTML5 plan" for the next few years.


     

    Five years?  How do Flash developers reach mobile users today?

  • Reply 25 of 47
    noahjnoahj Posts: 4,503member
    conrail wrote: »
    Maybe you can beat them with your buggy whip!
    Why not, they beat us with their buggy software daily... ;)
  • Reply 26 of 47

    There's something that I can't understand. Google owns Android and Youtube. Facebook's mobile apps is becoming increasingly important...

    A) Why do we have flash ads and every single embedded video as flash on facebook;

    B) Why most youtube videos can't be seem without flash because flash ads won't load;

    C) Why does Chrome, a great browser (second only behind safari 7 for mac), still brings flash to kill our smoothness and battery life? To please useless gamers that demand it because of what I mentioned above?

     

    Just kill the damn thing. I refuse to install it on safari.

    Together with having an Android phone, flash is one reason to install Chrome.

  • Reply 27 of 47
    john.b wrote: »
    Five years?  How do Flash developers reach mobile users today?

    I believe the reason some of us refer to a continued lifespan of another five years for Adobe Flash is enterprise applications. Unfortunately, many enterprise applications still require Adobe Flash for some functionality. Changing enterprise application vendors is almost never any easy proposition.
  • Reply 28 of 47
    danoxdanox Posts: 2,858member
    FLASH WHO???
  • Reply 29 of 47
    mstonemstone Posts: 11,510member
    Adobe Flash is still viable for video because so many users are still on an older version of Internet Explorer. If all those Explorer people would upgrade we could get rid of Flash for video.

    It is still the most powerful platform for animation and some graphics based applications for which there is no easy substitute, but for video it should be retired.

    The main problem with Flash is that it has too much power. It can read and write files, connect to databases, send mail, etc. That is where they get into trouble. It just has too much capability in a single package which opens a lot of security risks.

    But Adobe is ready in the wings to take control of video once again though, with Primetime, their latest video format that will be compatible with virtually everything including iOS and is much more locked down than Flash because it will run from their servers not in the open Internet . It will still require a standalone player app. This is mainly for big sites not small startups. It has analytics, ads, DRM etc, etc. so the Adobe haters will enjoy many more years of whining even after the demise of Flash.
  • Reply 30 of 47
    sockrolidsockrolid Posts: 2,789member

    Hey Adobe.  Your last-century antique software sucks.

  • Reply 31 of 47
    sockrolidsockrolid Posts: 2,789member
    Quote:

    Originally Posted by mstone View Post



    Adobe Flash is still viable for video because so many users are still on an older version of Internet Explorer. If all those Explorer people would upgrade we could get rid of Flash for video.



    It is still the most powerful platform for animation and some graphics based applications for which there is no easy substitute, but for video it should be retired.



    The main problem with Flash is that it has too much power. It can read and write files, connect to databases, send mail, etc. That is where they get into trouble. It just has too much capability in a single package which opens a lot of security risks.



    But Adobe is ready in the wings to take control of video once again though, with Primetime, their latest video format that will be compatible with virtually everything including iOS and is much more locked down than Flash because it will run from their servers not in the open Internet . It will still require a standalone player app. This is mainly for big sites not small startups. It has analytics, ads, DRM etc, etc. so the Adobe haters will enjoy many more years of whining even after the demise of Flash.

     

    Wow.  Just listen to this guy.

  • Reply 32 of 47

    How does one turn off and on Flash without removing it from the system? I know it is a plug-in for Firefox. I don't see where to just turn it off and on easily. I also use Chrome when Firefox is too slow.

  • Reply 33 of 47
    arlorarlor Posts: 532member
    Quote:

    Originally Posted by Smallwheels View Post

     

    How does one turn off and on Flash without removing it from the system? I know it is a plug-in for Firefox. I don't see where to just turn it off and on easily. I also use Chrome when Firefox is too slow.


     

    I'm on a PC at work at the moment, and I'm not sure things look the same on Chrome for Mac, but:

     

    1. Settings

    2. "Content Settings" under "Privacy"

    3. "Disable individual plug-ins" under "Plug-ins"

    4. Disable Flash

     

    While you're there, if you happen to have the Adobe PDF viewer selected instead of Chrome's, switch to the Chrome one. It's faster and also less feature-rich, so probably more secure against attacks that target Adobe's crappy security measures.

  • Reply 34 of 47
    Quote:

    Originally Posted by Conrail View Post

     

    Maybe you can beat them with your buggy whip!




    What's a 'buggy whip'? You must be an old guy.

  • Reply 35 of 47

    I haven't installed Flash on my system, and if I really need to view a site with Flash, I'll run Chrome, which has its own embedded Flash player.

  • Reply 36 of 47
    dunksdunks Posts: 1,254member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by pmz View Post

     

     

     

     

     

    Don't be ridiculous. It has a lot of useful and relevant applications...unfortunately those of you that are unaware of the world outside the Apple bubble have no idea and thus make comments like these.

     

    Flash may suck, but it is still very important for a lot of sophisticated web applications and will continue to be for at least the next 5 years.


     

    This kind of "close enough, good enough" thinking that typifies the PC world, drives me crazy.

     

    Flash might be easy to code for (debatable) but doesn't provide a good user experience - it's propriery, resource intensive does not allow the user to perform secondary click actions and creates yet another hidey hole for advertisers and trackers to snoop on the unwitting user.

  • Reply 37 of 47
    mstonemstone Posts: 11,510member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Dunks View Post

     

    This kind of "close enough, good enough" thinking that typifies the PC world, drives me crazy.

     

    Flash might be easy to code for (debatable) but doesn't provide a good user experience - it's propriery, resource intensive does not allow the user to perform secondary click actions and creates yet another hidey hole for advertisers and trackers to snoop on the unwitting user.


    Totally agree. Flash was not designed originally to be an advertiser hidey hole medium. It was an evolution of Director, AuthorWare, and Future Splash all designed as simple straight forward  multimedia delivery tools mostly for disc based animation. It just got perverted once the Internet became available. As the video wars erupted Flash became the ubiquitous refuge for content providers, but the underlying feature set made it a prime target for abuse.

     

    In the early days the video wars were about QuickTime, AVI, and RealPlayer. As the medium evolved both Micosoft and Apple developed streaming servers and eventually squeezed out Real. When Macromedia introduced Flash as an alternative to the two warring heavyweights nobody complained and within a very short time it became the video delivery platform of choice.

     

    It wasn't until the introduction of iPhone did that standard become disrupted.

     

    Now the video wars are even more troublesome than in the early days. As developers, it has come down to only one practical solution. Everything must be delivered through YouTube. No longer can a solo developer host their own video. You need around 20 different versions of every clip. One for each codec, WebM, H.264, Ogg, and Flash for older browsers, and also in several different resolutions depending on the device and the connection speed.  It is a nightmare. Fortunately YouTube takes care of all the backend issues, which is great so long as you want all your video hosted there.

     

    Flash Player is like any other software. The more features you pack into it the bigger the power and memory overhead is going to be. Every software is subject to exploitation and will need updates. Apple , Microsoft and Adobe all issue security updates on a routine basis. Bottom line is that if you don't like Adobe, Apple or Microsoft software, you don't have to use them, but some content may not be available depending on your choices.

  • Reply 38 of 47
    How does one turn off and on Flash without removing it from the system? I know it is a plug-in for Firefox. I don't see where to just turn it off and on easily. I also use Chrome when Firefox is too slow.

    http://clicktoflash.com/
  • Reply 39 of 47
    Quote:

    Originally Posted by Danox View Post



    FLASH WHO???

     

    Flash Ah-A, saviour of the Universe.

  • Reply 40 of 47
    Pathetic. Adobe Flash is pathetic.
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