The Rise and Fall of A Legendary Digital Media Software
August 16, 2017

The Rise and Fall of A Legendary Digital Media Software

Benjamin Yee | TrustRadius Reviewer
Score 7 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User

Overall Satisfaction with Adobe Flash

Adobe Flash runtime is used throughout the whole organization, as it is used for most websites, for media and moving graphics. Some of the business problems it addresses depend on the graphics that are needed for the organization, such as diagrams and schematics for different components for certain types of vehicles. We particularly use different Adobe software, such as Reader to manipulate the sizes of the graphics, not as much for using Adobe's professional software, which can be used for animations and movies.
  • Rich media - Adobe's goal for Flash is to "deliver more secure and consistent HD quality video across mobile devices, TVs, and desktops."
  • Good interactivity - Using some of the professional software can allow you to interact with a program, such as games.
  • Vast Browser Compatibility - Flash can be used across most common web browsers, including IE, Firefox, Chrome, and Opera.
  • Bugs and crashes - like most software, sometimes websites run too slow and Flash would crash while loading certain graphics and animations on websites (or stop playing media).
  • Consistent security patches - very critical for Flash, but if you do not have the latest version, vulnerability is likely to happen.
  • Not suitable for mobile websites - you cannot download or use Flash on smartphones, such as iPhones or Android devices.
  • Useful for certain websites - some websites can run on Flash very well, while others tend to work, then crash.
  • Limitations on mobile devices - you cannot run certain websites there, and would have to have Flash installed.
  • Pre-Installed on some web browsers - including IE on Windows 10 or Chrome on the latest versions.
The only major alternative is to run your media on HTML5 and find mobile sites (or others) that can run on mobile devices. HTML5 tends to run directly on the browser faster (and doesn't crash very often). I would only select Adobe Flash if a specific website that I needed for the business (or personal / leisure) is required, otherwise, I'm open to running the alternatives and open-source programs that would serve as an alternative to Flash.
It is well suited for scenarios for desktop and laptop PC websites, but not if you are wanting to view a Flash website on a mobile device or tablet.
You mainly use it to view digital media, animations, and other graphics that would require Flash. However, if Flash continues to crash when you visit a specific website on a web browser, you would need to either update it or uninstall it and find a better alternative, such as HTML5.