Adobe yesterday has released a preview version of Flash Player Square, a new version of the popular browser plugin. This preview version adds two core new features to Adobe’s Flash Player, namely enhanced support for Microsoft’s Internet Explorer 9 Beta which was also released yesterday, and native 64-bit support for all supported operating systems including Windows, Linux and Mac.
What does “enhanced support” mean? As you know, Internet Explorer 9 comes with full hardware acceleration, and Adobe Flash Player Square “takes advantage of hardware accelerated graphics” in the web browser to “improve graphics performance and enable seamless composition”.
Please note that Flash Player Square is a preview release. Some would say it is a beta, and as such, it requires more attention than a stable release version of Flash Player.
The most striking difference is the fact that the preview version needs to be updated manually whenever a new version is released by Adobe.
Users who want to try out Adobe Flash Player Square, can download the most recent version at the Adobe Labs website. This is also the location where updates are posted, and it is recommended to check that page regularly (or visit your favorite tech blog) to download updates whenever they become available.
Finally, it has to be noted that the preview version cannot be upgraded to a final version of Flash Player. This means that users of the preview need to uninstall it prior to installing a final version of Adobe’s Flash Player.
According to Adobe’s Paul Betlem performance has increased by over 35% in Internet Explorer 9 Beta with Flash Player Square installed. That’s a big increase, which will mostly be noticed by users who access typical Flash contents, such as Flash games, multimedia contents or applications regularly.
Adobe recommends to uninstall any Flash Player version prior to installing the new preview release of Adobe Flash Player Square. The version installed shows as 10.2.161.22 in Internet Explorer 9 Beta.
adobe flash player square
The new Microsoft browser shows the publisher as not verified, which is a bit strange but can probably be attributed to the beta stage of the plugin. Have you tried the new Flash Player Square? Let us know about your experience in the comments.
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 or Twitter.Related Articles:
Adobe Flash Player 10.2 Beta, Improves Hardware AccelerationFlash 11 Beta Brings 64-Bit Support To Windows
Adobe Flash Player Security Update Available
Adobe Flash Player Security Update
Latest Flash Player Preview Adds Protected Mode Features For Firefox
So they were waiting for IE9…
Well, it’s finally here and that’s what matters.
Well I have tried it on ubuntu 10.04 64bit and can say that it a bit better then 32b flash on 64 system then cpu usage allways reaches 100%. However now cpu usage is about 60-80% which is too much for 360p video from youtube. Waiting for new updates