Now that two of the largest video web sites on the Internet (YouTube and Facebook) have completed their transitions, the migration away from Adobe Flash is almost complete! Open source formats have finally become mainstream. But what does this mean for you? Doing away with Adobe Flash is good for the following three reasons:

  • Security - In the GLSA (Gentoo Linux Security Annoucement) list for 2015, Adobe Flash was reported nine times for “multiple vulnerabilities”. To Adobe’s credit they have continued to fix these critical security vulnerabilities, however they discontinued updating the version of flash available for NPAPI-based web browsers in Linux since 2012.
  • Liberty - Open source formats are free to use for everyone. You need not pay any special license costs.
  • Transparency - Anyone has access to review and audit the source code. This enables many more eyes and minds to be aware of what is going on in the background, meaning that people can learn from and even improve the quality of the underlying code.

This change will benefit mankind.