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Back in August Adobe reversed its decision to stop offering an NPAPI Flash plugin for Linux and promised that version 23 would come Penguinistas' way real soon now.
At the time the decision was greeted with surprise, because Adobe had not thought to update Flash for Linux since 2012's version 11.2. But the company decided that Linux users deserved a security upgrade to the infamously hole-ridden product.
It turns out the company fibbed, because it's now delivered version 24 of the plugin to Linux users, making this a thirteen-version jump between releases*.
That's the same version number offered to Windows and Mac users, but the new Linux version lacks features found on those other platforms. Linux users willing to put up with almost-certainly-insecure** will therefore have to put up with missing 3D acceleration from GPUs.
(Score: 4, Interesting) by bzipitidoo on Saturday December 31 2016, @05:44PM
How many years will it take for homo economicus business person to understand that DRM and intellectual property are illogical? To accept that copying is a natural right that is impossible to restrict and that information cannot be monetized in the same ways as material goods? DRM and its twin brother Copy Protection are over 30 years old now, and have never lasted, new schemes often being broken within hours of their debut. The schemes are ludicrously easy to break for reasons to do with logic and reality, vulnerable to gaping holes that are impossible to plug. DRM is less secure than door locks on a convertible.
Flash is just one of many episodes in this decades long battle over toll gate restrictions to learning and culture. It never made sense for Adobe to spurn Linux users, except in a foolish dream that the application to information of the material goods model of business could eventually triumph and that triumph was just around the corner. Spurning Linux was always a religious decision, an attempt to distance themselves from that which much of the business world regards as Communist anathema. Adobe sucked up to the high priests of information control, hoping for their approval and blessing, and could not earn it because their demands are unreasonable. They merely made themselves a louder exhibit on why corporate control is bad for customers.
Flash is a sideshow next to the battling over DRM in HTML5.
(Score: 2, Informative) by EEMac on Saturday December 31 2016, @06:33PM
How many years will it take for homo economicus business person to understand that DRM and intellectual property are illogical?
“It is difficult to get a man to understand something, when his salary depends on his not understanding it.” ― Upton Sinclair
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday December 31 2016, @08:47PM
They are over 50 years old because this crap dates back to floppies that worked as hardware dongles (and my guess is that there're even earlier incarnations of it).
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday December 31 2016, @11:05PM
To accept that copying is a natural right that is impossible to restrict and that information cannot be monetized in the same ways as material goods?
That's what corporations think about outsourcing jobs to save money, and about accumulating vast stores of data on each "customer" so targeted sales leads can be sold to the highest bidder.
Lazy thinking and low ethical standards cut both ways.
(Score: 2) by Joe Desertrat on Monday January 02 2017, @10:12PM
How many years will it take for homo economicus business person to understand that DRM and intellectual property are illogical? To accept that copying is a natural right that is impossible to restrict and that information cannot be monetized in the same ways as material goods? DRM and its twin brother Copy Protection are over 30 years old now, and have never lasted, new schemes often being broken within hours of their debut.
It will last until the majority of people truly care enough about it to continually bypass it. Sadly, that likely means forever, as most users go with whatever works, accepting DRM restrictions as a matter of course.