The original 1995 ShockWave Global Download Servers at Macromedia HQ San Francisco

Back in 1995 Macromedia’s influence on interactive media began with the launch of Shockwave, a technology that converted Macromedia Director presentations into a compressed format for web delivery: the first true animations on the Internet, which also allowed Youtube to exist later, delivering video streams in a highly conpressed – and thus affordable – format.

I can claim I helped Shockwave to be a success, as I built the delivery infrastructure for it, which had been neglected during the programming and planning phase, and having it ready ‘just in time’ for the highly hyped launch date. Due to the overwhelming success of Shockwave, Macromedia acquired a small company in San Diego (“FutureFlash Inc”) with only one customer (Microsoft) for $30m.

The merger of their Flash product and Shockwave became what pretty much every web user had installed for the last 25 years: the Flash Player.

See the history here on Wikipedia, and the story with pictures here on my website.

Now, 25 years later, and riddled with an abundance of security issues, this chapter comes to an end:

Adobe Flash Player EOL General Information Page

1. When is the Flash Player end-of-life (EOL)?
   As previously announced in July 2017, Adobe will stop distributing and updating Flash Player after December 31, 2020 (“EOL Date”). We made this announcement in collaboration with several of our technology partners – including Apple, Facebook, Google, Microsoft and Mozilla – which issued complementary announcements with more technical detail on what the Flash Player EOL will mean for developers, enterprises, and consumers using their specific OS environments or browsers.
2. Why did Adobe decide to EOL Flash Player and select the end of 2020 date?
   Open standards such as HTML5, WebGL, and WebAssembly have continually matured over the years and serve as viable alternatives for Flash content. Also, the major browser vendors are integrating these open standards into their browsers and deprecating most other plug-ins (like Adobe Flash Player).By announcing our business decision in 2017, with three years’ advance notice, we believed that would allow sufficient time for developers, designers, businesses, and other parties to migrate existing Flash content as needed to new, open standards
3. How will this decision impact Adobe Flash Player support and distribution for the remainder of the year (2020)?
   Adobe will continue issuing regular Flash Player security patches, maintain OS and browser compatibility, and add features and capabilities as determined by Adobe through the end of 2020.
4. Will Adobe make previous versions of Adobe Flash Player available for download after 2020?
   No. 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.
   Adobe always recommends using the latest, supported and up-to-date software. Customers should not use Flash Player after the EOL Date since it will not be supported by Adobe.
5. If I find Flash Player available for download on a third-party website, can I use it?
   No, these versions of Flash Player are not authorized by Adobe. Customers should not use unauthorized versions of Flash Player.  Unauthorized downloads are a common source of malware and viruses.  Adobe has no responsibility for unauthorized versions of Flash Player and customers’ use of such versions is entirely at their own risk.
6. Which browsers and operating systems currently support Adobe Flash Player?
   Please visit http://www.adobe.com/products/flashplayer/tech-specs.html for the latest list of Flash-supported browsers and operating systems. Note, as it gets closer to the EOL Date, the number of Flash-supported browsers and operating systems may decrease so Adobe strongly encourages customers to migrate to other standards.
7. Will Adobe provide security updates for Flash Player after the end-of-life date?
   Adobe will not issue Flash Player updates or security patches after the EOL Date. We recommend that all users uninstall Flash Player before the EOL date (see manual uninstall instructions for Windows and Mac users). Users will be prompted by Adobe to uninstall Flash Player on their machines later this year and Flash-based content will be blocked from running in Adobe Flash Player after the EOL Date.

from: https://www.adobe.com/products/flashplayer/end-of-life.html#

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from: https://futurezone.at/produkte/der-flash-player-stirbt-endlich-offiziell/400945928

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P.S.: the original 1995 Macromedia Shockwave download server racks ended up in a Dallas transmission shop (picture from 2012 – they are probably still there), after being thrown out in 1998, and serving in my living room to host my stereo equipment:

2305 Southwell Road in Dallas – if you want to lay your hands on a piece of history.