LibreOffice 7.0 drops Adobe Flash support
The team behind the open source Office suite LibreOffice is working on the next major version of the application, LibreOffice 7.0, currently.
Current versions of LibreOffice support Adobe Flash, more precisely the .SWF file format as users may export presentations and drawings to the format. These can then be embedded on sites but it is also possible to play SWF files on the desktop directly.
The preliminary release notes of LibreOffice 7.0 reveal now that support for Adobe Flash will be dropped in the upcoming version of the Office suite.
Filters
Macromedia Flash export filter was removed as Flash player will be end-of-life by the end of 2020 core commit 63e43c1db9d0d5c52916dc6d2d7cd1d3d9bcae76
Adobe will end support for Flash at the end of 2020; all major browser makers have announced that they will drop support for Adobe Flash before the end of 2020. It is only natural that other projects with support for Flash or Flash formats will drop support in 2020.
Google made Flash usage more annoying in Chrome 76 already; the browser uses a built-in version of Adobe Flash while Firefox relies on the older NPAPI plugin architecture and installation of Flash on the operating system. Projects like the Flash Game Preservation project try to save Flash content before support ends officially as numerous Flash games and applications cannot be loaded anymore in browsers when support is removed officially.
The change in LibreOffice affects the program's exporting functionality. Presentations and drawings can be exported to the Adobe SWF format in LibreOffice. The option to export drawings or presentations as SWF files is removed in LibreOffice 7.0.
LibreOffice plans to release version 7.0 of the Office suite in August 2020. The new version ships with improved Docx import and exporting. Current versions of LibreOffice use the Office 2007 compatibility mode for Docx files; LibreOffice 7.0 will use the native Office 2013, 2016, 2019 mode instead.
Now You: Do you use Adobe Flash / SWF files anywhere? (via Born)
Dropping support for Flash is a good idea. Dropping Java would be even better. Java on any Windows machine is a boat anchor, and Hell knows that’s it’s hard enough just to keep a Windows 10 machine functional & crap free with the OS itself.
And before anybody says the “L” word, I have a dual boot system, so I’m fine with Linux… just not able to cast Windows permanently into the Lake of Fire for a number of reasons. But getting rid of Java would certainly help me settle the question of which office suite to keep on the PC
I’ve been waiting a long time for this. Constantly updating flash almost weekly has been such a pain in the butt. I look forward to a new year without flash (and Trump)
For anyone wanting a truly decent alternative to Microsoft Office, I cannot recommend WPS Office enough. They have a free version which is already really good. If you want the premium stuff, it’s something like $30 a year. However, I have gotten by with the free version.
Compatibility is way better than anything LibreOffice could do.
Libreoffice is the slowest office suite ever. Libreoffice Calc is probably the worst piece of software just behind W10 update system. FreeOffice and OpenOffice are by so far better and faster. :]
I like reading about politics, but not here.
While I think dropping Flash is a good decision for LibreOffice that makes it more secure, it does occur to me that this will make OpenOffice.org a compelling “specialty” tool for people who need to work with Flash.
Have the LibreOffice folks made any recent overtures to the OpenOffice.org folks? I think OpenOffice.org is down to 3 or 4 developers at most and there are no real plans for major development in the works and some concern as to whether they are going to be able to handle security long-term (Although patches do get issued sometimes) and at one point there was an open debate among OO stakeholders about whether to discontinue the program entirely.
I’ll admit, I still use OO because I only rarely need a word processor, and I figure for those occasions, it’s easier to use something that I’m used to than something that keeps changing, but just because that works for me doesn’t mean it’s good for the word processing ecosystem. It’s not really like these are two word processors that went from a common base to forking off in different directions that each serve a need. One is just actively being actively developed, and the other is barely supported. I have some concern that OO might just not be able to keep compatibility with some new version of Windows and other operating systems or new file formats at some point, and then be stuck in an emergency end of the line type situation where it is too late to orderly transition their users.
With Oracle out of the picture and OO being owned by the Apache Foundation for several years now, it’s possible that the folks behind LO now have people they may feel they can talk to over at OO and the OO no longer consider the LO a bunch of renegades.
Some sort of a merger of these two programs might be helpful. LO could use OO’s still large user-base on Windows and OO could use the developers. I don’t know if LO would be willing to adopt the OO name at this point if the software was given to them, but they could do something like produce both programs in parallel with the only difference being the name, convert OO to something like “OpenOffice.org by LibreOffice”, make OO a simpler classic type version of LO that has all the LO security and compatibility improvements and such under the hood, or just upgrade OO installs to LO through OO servers (Maybe with a transitional version with both words in the name before everything becomes the same).
I think OO is the stronger more marketable name (With a still significant user base), but LO probably wouldn’t ever adopt the name because of politics. The other issue might be the “.org” part having to be part of the OO for legal reasons (There was some other thing called Open Office, and the legal settlement or legal way to avoid a lawsuit was that OO has to be listed as openoffice.org, which does helpful tell everyone where to find the download, but also kind of implies it’s some sort of cloud thing, which is not what it is [Thank goodness.], and may be confusing for some users.).
Looks like the industry really wants to kill Flash dead, and then to kill it again just to make sure. My question is, what happens to the games that require flash? My mom likes to play e.g. lumosity. You can’t play them without it.
@Mike: The idea is that browser games will switch from Flash to HTML5, which can support most of what they do. Inevitably, some websites will not update, but the same is true with anything.
Flash had way too many security vulnerabilities and was really pretty much the province of one company, Adobe, which said it didn’t want to maintain it anymore. A lot of people haven’t had Flash installed in their browsers in years and find that everything works. Obviously there are a few specialty use cases that are going to be impacted somewhat, though.
You might find the games your mother plays already support things other than Flash if you visit them in a modern up to date browser without Flash installed. Alternately, I think the specific thing you mentioned is available as a phone app, which definitely wouldn’t require a browser with Flash.
With Flash gone what will Superman and Batman ever do? (sniff, sniff…)
I’m waiting for them to fully remove Java dependencies.
Is there a simple way to port swf to mp4 without horrible transcoding errors or enormous file size?
I need Flash for one web site that I visit occasionally. If Flash is withdrawn, I will not be able to use it. I doubt that they will change. There may be other sites I visit as well…
Use a browser that still supports Flash. You will only be unable to use it, if the *website* is withdrawn. If you can keep the Flash installer forever.
I’ve eradicated Flash a long time ago. Happy to discover a planned LibreOffice up to date with reality.
But with the loss of Flash what will Superman and Batman ever do without him? …(sniff, sniff)
@Valborex, someone working in the pharmaceutical industry once told me there would always be work in that area because people would always be sick (without me being able to know if he was satisfied for employment or sad because of diseases, both perhaps). Super heroes are unlikely to ever get bored, unless in paradise should they ever get there (no one is perfect, not even heroes, how should i know if a deep psycho-analysis of Batman or Superman wouldn’t reveal that their true motivation was led be their ego rather than by the quest of brotherhood, right?!]
Last week, I removed Adobe Flash Player on my computers. My OS is Win 10 Pro 64-bit.
Not only that but all Adobe products. Adobe reader and Photoshop. Alternatives are much better nowadays. No subscription traps.
I still have PTSD from trying to use Libreoffice Calc. Horribly slow. After experiencing that, MS Excel price is a bargain.
Not sure when you tried it, but there have been improvements to Calc’s performance.
It’s still light years behind Excel in functionality though.
@Rosmano: Agreed. LO may be nice for individuals or small, unsophisticated businesses, but it’s no match for Office/Excel in terms of functionality, ecosystem integration and collaboration. Especially in Covid-19 times you need your office suite to be connected to a serious collaboration platform, and LO is nothing more than an (admirable) amateur project in this respect.
Shinto,
Do you have an opinion on the word processor part of Libre Office (and possibly the database) ?
@Clairvaux:
Both the word processor and spreadsheet modules of LO are good and capable pieces of software, exceeding even commercial software like Apple’s office suite. They’re probably great for some scenarios but not others (like I described). My main issue with the whole of LO is its patchy compatibility with O365 file formats, and its lack of interconnectedness with popular corporate platforms.
Out of the four main LO modules, the Writer and Calc ones are the best developed. Writer is missing a native Outline view like Word (which I find a useful functionality) but is otherwise pretty much Word’s equal for standard word processing. No real-time collab is possible out of the box, however.
I don’t use the database part of LO, sorry, so no opinion either way.
Thank you. Indeed, Word’s outline view missing from Libre Office is a deal-breaker for me. It’s one of my pet peeves, how that brilliant innovation of the 1980’s, the outliner, got sidelined, to the point that no word processor offers it anymore, outside Microsoft Office. A word processor is of no use to me without an outliner. That’s my default view in Word.
There is one, significant exception : Soft Maker Office Standard (a splendid piece of sofware, whose free version, Free Office, is also very good ; but it has no outliner).
And there’s another I would not recommend, WPS Office, because the Chinese publisher behind it has the same practices we’ve come to like from that country, in the coronavirus area and others : user-hostility, lying, advertising (propaganda, in the diplomatic area) and user data-grabbing. Also, possibly downright software piracy, since WPS Office seems such a copycat of Microsoft Office.
2020 will mark the end of Trump and the end of Flash.
Now THAT’S what I call winning!
Don’t feed the troll. you all failed!
That’s Doctor Donald Trump, M.D. if you don’t mind.
People are getting so over-familiar nowadays …
@James,
What is a “trump”? Like a trump card or what?
Flash has been useless for a long time. Back in the day when I was clueless was was using Internet Explorer as my main browser and loved installing 3rd party toolbars on it that I never used, just thought they looked cool, I used Flash, because it allowed me to play dumb Flash games which were entertaining to me back then, but now I’d rather miss out on content or not use a website if it requires Flash as I haven’t installed that garbage in many years.
EDIT:
After doing some web search for “trump” it appears to be some blonde haired old dude… I wonder why is he famous though…
@James, wake up. That poor excuse for a human being should have been gone long ago. He’s coming back just like COVID-19 will. Green Day called it in their famous song. I’ll let you figure that one out if you can.
@James
When every topic out there is being intermingled with politics, then that’s what we call “Orwellian”. There need to be topics free of politics, because if there aren’t any, then we are living in a totalitarian society. Food for thought.
PS: Not everyone has to care about the US. I am not a US citizen, so unless your country decides to negatively influence mine, I do not care (because why should I?).
@Iron Heart:
+1.
There seems to be a cohort of US-based commentators (not only on this site) who think that the entire globe revolves around their presidential elections. This is a website managed primarily by a German person, and many (most?) readers are from Western Europe including myself. The only time I want to read about Trump, Biden et al is in the ‘World’ section of my newspaper.
Trump will win again because there is no better opponent. I don’t know vice presidents which became presidents afterwards. They just look like the medical student who could not complete his school and became a dentist afterwards… Second best. Never good enough.
Lyndon Baines Johnson was a Vice-President who became President afterwards. As President, he landed a man on the moon, signed the Civil Rights Act, signed the Voting Rights Act, and passed an agenda he referred to as the “Great Society”, which included the creation of Medicare and Medicaid.
Granted, there was that Vietnam thing (Which he *somewhat* inherited from President Kennedy- Kennedy put the first Americans on the ground there, but it became a war under LBJ), but, that aside, not bad for a former Vice-President.
Other former Vice-Presidents who became accomplished Presidents include John Adams, Thomas Jefferson (The first Democratic President), Theodore Roosevelt, and Harry Truman.
I could list a few more if we’re just talking about a list of VPs who became Presidents (Most recently, George H.W. Bush [Sr.]). For the purposes of this reply, I figured we were just talking VPs who became President and got big things done or otherwise became famous for mostly good reasons.
And US politics is relevant to this tech website… how exactly?
@ Shintoplasm
“And US politics is relevant to this tech website… how exactly?”
Seconded.
Typical Off Topic threads which divert the discussion away from Martin’s article about Libreoffice.
Poor James thinks “Biden in” is winning.
Sleepi Joe? He will never win!