14 DAY TRIAL // Adobe has just shipped a new Flash Player update that bumps version number to 28.0.0.126, which is actually the first stable release of branch 28.
The company hasn’t provided a change log just yet, but since this new version lands on Patch Tuesday, there’s a good chance the focus is on security fixes.
Adobe has synced its security patching cycle with Microsoft’s, so the company rolls out fixes for the vulnerabilities discovered in its software on the second Tuesday on each month, just like the Redmond-based software giant.
As a result, Microsoft also bundles the latest Flash Player version into its Patch Tuesday rollout shipped via Windows Update, as both Microsoft Edge and Internet Explorer browser come with this software built in.
Even though the release notes are not available at this point and the new version has just been published on its download servers, Flash Player 28 should include the majority of improvements that were packed into the beta versions, including better compatibility with Google Chrome and other browsers.
Flash Player getting the ax
And while Adobe’s Flash Player continues to be a very popular piece of software, sooner or later everyone will abandon it, as the parent company announced in July that it would retire it at the end of 2020.
“Over time, we’ve seen helper apps evolve to become plugins, and more recently, have seen many of these plugin capabilities get incorporated into open web standards. Today, most browser vendors are integrating capabilities once provided by plugins directly into browsers and deprecating plugins,” Adobe said in the summer.
The transition off Flash could be painful for some, but it’s a necessary step, especially because in the last few years, it’s become one of the most vulnerable applications on Windows. Exploit kits available online very often relied on vulnerabilities discovered in Flash Player, and systems that weren’t updated on day one were left exposed to attacks.
Detailed information about what’s new in this new version will be provided shortly, but in the meantime you can download Flash Player 28 from Softpedia right here.