One of the first things that many users do after installing a web browser is to install Adobe Flash as it is needed to display many websites and most of the hosted videos on the Internet.
The Google Chrome developers have decided to include the Adobe Flash Player plugin into the latest dev version of the web browser “so that [users] don’t have to install it or worry about keeping it up-to-date”.
The Flash player plugin needs to be enabled with the startup parameters –enable-internal-flash and Google has announced plans to bring that functionality to all Google Chrome users as soon as possible.
What’s the benefit of integrating Adobe Flash into Google Chrome? The main advantage is that Flash is now integrated with the Google Chrome auto-update mechanism ensuring that the Flash plugin is always the latest version reducing security risks for users who do not update their plugins immediately when new versions are released.
But this also means that Flash is integrated in the Chrome browser and it is likely that the devs at one point will activate it automatically for all users.
This adds weight to the web browser, especially for users who prefer not to install Adobe Flash. It also means that Chrome users might be left with an insecure version of Flash for some time considering Adobe’s track record of security updates meaning auto-update is nice but not very useful if Adobe is not offering an update to a known security vulnerability immediately after it was discovered.
The latest dev version of Google Chrome includes a basic plugin manager as well that can be used to disable plugins from loading on all websites. There are still a few bugs to be sorted out:
On Windows, if you have Adobe Flash Player for Windows Firefox, Safari, or Opera installed, the Flash plug-in will still work in some cases even if you decline the license agreement (when using –enable-internal-flash) or disable the Flash plugin from about:plugins. We’re working on it.
If you disable (or enable) a plugin on about:plugins, your change does not take effect until you restart Google Chrome.
There is no bundled Adobe Flash Player plug-in for 64-bit Linux.
The latest dev version of Google Chrome can be downloaded from the Getting Involved page over at the Chromium project.
Related Articles:
How To Open The Adobe Flash Player Settings In Google ChromeGoogle Chrome Native Flash Plugin Enabled By Default
How To Make Sure That Google Chrome’s Flash Plugin Is Up To Date
Why are Two Flash Player Plugins Running In Google Chrome?
Adobe Hit By Yet Another Flash 0-day Exploit
Enjoyed the article?: Then sign-up for our free newsletter or RSS feed to kick off your day with the latest technology news and tips, or share the article with your friends and contacts on Facebook, Twitter or Google+ using the icons below.
“There is no bundled Adobe Flash Player plug-in for 64-bit Linux.”
/me hate adobe :(
Do you ever feel like you are drowning in a lake? When you get to liking a browser and they do this.
I also hate abobe and will not ever install any part of it again on my computer!
HNicolai, note there is a 64-bit version of Flash Player for Linux, it’s just it’s still in alpha, so I guess Google has decided not to bundle it yet:
http://labs.adobe.com/technologies/flashplayer10/64bit.html
Will Google also be responsible for updating Adobe’s Flash? Flash is notorious for monthly vulnerabilities. I hope Iron doesn’t follow suit…
Ah…i dont think they gone..be part of Adobe software updates…
I love Adobe but I don’t know if this was the best move for them. I mean, being incorporated into anything Google will improve your business, but will it be at the expense of the software?
Chrome is all I use but it still lucks many useful features already possessed by firefox
Well if you think about it… it makes a lot of sense. They needed a flash player and adobe’s probably the most well known in existance. So naturally they would partner up with them. I can’t say wether it’s truly a good decision but it’s certainly a logical one.
I hate abobe and will not ever install any part of it again on my computer!