14 DAY TRIAL // Adobe has just released a new version of Flash Player, as the company continues addressing security issues ahead of the product’s retirement planned for 2020.
Flash Player 29 is thus available for download right now, though it’s important to know that no release notes have been published just yet, as the rollout started only a few minutes ago.
It’s not hard to figure out, however, that Flash Player 29 (full version number is 29.0.0.113) is mostly about fixing security bugs, as the release takes place on Patch Tuesday, the day when companies like Adobe, Microsoft, and others ship security updates for their products. What exactly is being fixed in this version still remains to be seen, with more information likely to be shared later today.
The demise of Flash Player
Despite being insanely popular, Adobe’s Flash Player has long been one of the most vulnerable pieces of software on Windows computers, and this has forced everyone to look for more secure vulnerabilities.
As a result, Adobe announced in mid-2017 that it would retire Flash Player completely by the end of 2020, promising to work with industry giants like Apple, Microsoft, Google, and Mozilla to make the transition as smoothly as possible given how widely used Flash Player currently is.
“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 at that time.
The company promised to continue releasing security fixes until the demise is complete, and today’s version is part of this commitment to keeping everything patched until the very end.
You can download the latest version of Adobe Flash Player from Softpedia right now and check back soon for more information on what’s changed.