Adobe Flash, a veritable staple of web animation for years, is close to being phased out. Having been on the defensive against mounting criticism from major tech companies such as Apple and Facebook, Adobe was hit by a major blow from Google in June. It was announced that Google will no longer automatically display Flash advertisements on Chrome, as of September, 2015. There is a new setting in Chrome that is aimed at optimizing plugins in order to extend battery life. The implications being that this setting directly targets advertising that automatically plays. Being that Chrome is the single most popular web browser in the world, this has far reaching implications for a web animation platform that was already under a veritable siege of criticism from heavy hitters.

Many of the complaints from large tech companies revolve around Flash’s battery consumption issues  on mobile devices. The main criticism however, is centered around Flash’s penchant for security vulnerabilities. Steve Jobs famously leveled criticism towards Flash’s abysmal security record, and how the platform’s vulnerabilities were threatening to reduce the security and reliability of Apple mobile devices. Back in July, Facebook security chief Alex Stamos called on Adobe to set an expiration date for Flash. Shortly thereafter, Mozilla blocked Flash on their popular Firefox browser in a bid to get Adobe to release an updated version that addressed know vulnerabilities. It seems that the end is nigh for Adobe Flash, further signaling that the web development landscape of 2015 is on the precipice of change.