The End Of Adobe Flash And What It Means For Your Digital Asset Systems

In 2017 Adobe announced that it would stop supporting its Flash player at the end of 2020, and now the end of Flash is close at hand. In its recent announcement, Adobe pointed out that open source standards such as HTML5 continue to mature and have now superseded Flash. For more than 20 years, Flash has been far more than an element of web design. It has also been a building block in many standalone software products.

So, what does this mean for your digital asset management?

Extensis added Flash to our enterprise font manager Universal Type Server through version 6.X, as well as our digital asset management solution Portfolio through version 3.6.2. After Adobe announced its plans to end patches and updates for Flash after December 31, 2020, Extensis moved away from Flash in more recent versions of Universal Type Server and Portfolio. We made these changes to ensure the best experience for our customers, their clients, and everyone who works with Extensis products.

Adobe has no plans to offer previous versions of Flash after 2020, stating, “Adobe will be removing Flash Player download pages from its site and Flash-based content will be blocked from running in Adobe Flash Player after the EOL Date.” Universal Type Server and Portfolio may see changes to their web interfaces after Flash comes to an end. This will impact the usability of these Extensis products, though the real concern is more serious.

Once Adobe ends its support for Flash, that means any live instance of Flash could be a security risk. The end of Flash also opens the door for unauthorized downloads of the software to proliferate, which can be a common source of malware and computer viruses.

How do you protect yourself, your digital assets, and your network?

1. If you and your team rely on an earlier version of Universal Type Server for enterprise font management, you can update to the latest version of UTS by following these steps.
2. If you and your team manage digital assets with an earlier version of Portfolio, we want to make sure you have everything you need to move forward with confidence. Upgrade to the new version of Portfolio here.

Now is a great time to clean house so you can begin 2021 with a tech stack that’s solid and secure.

***

At its best, technology will always evolve to meet the changing needs of business. And when it’s no longer valuable it will be replaced by something new, which is exactly what we see with Flash and HTML5. For any business, the question remains: how can we evolve to get the most value from the technology currently available to us?

The Teylers Museum has been around since 1784, and for more than 230 years they’ve searched for the best ways to share their vast collection with the public. They chose Portfolio to prepare for the future. Imagine what it could do for you.