Concept in Definition ABC

For a long time, the Format Multimedia created by Adobe is on the decline, losing support among software developers, to the point that many web browsers are no longer supporting it.

But history, which is dragging on in very slow agony, has not always been this way, and there was a time when the Flash enjoyed great success. Let's see.

Flash was born by the hand of FutureSplash, a company that was later acquired by Macromedia and this, in turn, ended in hands of Adobe in 2005, Flash being one of the most popular products that ended up in the product portfolio of Adobe

From its origins, Flash sought to provide interactivity and multimedia content, and although the web was not its initial objective, it did not take long to turn towards that orientation.

Its growth came from the hand of Macromedia, when it began to become an essential complement to install in any computer, although Adobe gave it a language of programming (ActionScript) that allowed developers to create authentic executable programs in a file Flash.

These files, with a SWF extension, contain the animation and all the code necessary to allow interactivity between the user and the computer.

Both Macromedia and, above all, Adobe later, launched a series of applications designed to facilitate the creation of Flash content. There were also third parties that released their own tools.

The FLV format also corresponds to Flash but, in this case, to its video section. Video in Flash format has been widely used by sites all over the Internet, such as YouTube. Its successor is native HTML5 video, to which the various sites they have been adapting little by little.

And despite the success he was collecting during the late 90s and early 2000s, Flash was digging his own grave ...

The announcement of the first iPhone in 2007 made Apple the first big one to openly turn its back on the Flash format, on which Steve Jobs launched accusations of being "heavy" and unsafe

However, gossips say that although the reasons given by Jobs were not wrong, in reality the reason for the "tantrum" The founder of Apple had been motivated because Adobe had released the latest version of Photoshop earlier for Windows than for Mac. Knowing the character, it is not far-fetched.

It is true that the Flash format has starred in some of the incidents of holes in safety most commented on the network, but it is no less true that it has always acted in a terrain conducive to holes, such as the fit between two softwares different.

While Google came at some point to support Flash on Android, probably as strategy To attract Apple users unhappy with this lack of iOS, he finally ended up denying it his favor, as did other manufacturers, mainly web browsers.

Today we can still find an important presence of Flash in small online games

Many gaming sites casual take advantage of the multimedia and interactive capabilities of Flash not only to create small games, but also to adapt old titles from a few decades ago so that they can be played that way from any browser.

Such is the basis of softwareplayful created in Flash, there are many tools that allow you to convert this format to other formats "understandable" by mobile devices.

Also, many cross-platform development tools support the export to Flash format.

Photos: Fotolia - hvostik16 / IconWeb

Themes in Flash SWF