A web developer has started a petition on GitHub asking Adobe to open source Flash after its plans to discontinue the platform by 2020. Its aim is to preserve web content for archival purposes.
Just days after Adobe announced the end of its Flash player by 2020, an online petition has been started with the aim of saving Flash for archival purposes.
Started by web developer Juha Linstedt, who goes by the username «Pakastin» on GitHub, the movement is looking to open source Flash after its demise, to be used as a part of internet history. «Flash is an important piece of Internet history and killing Flash means future generations can’t access the past, » the user writes. «Games, experiments and websites would be forgotten.»
Linstedt further explains that by doing so, it will keep Flash projects alive and safe. He visualizes a method to convert SWF and FLA files to HTML5, Canvas, WebGL, or Webassembly. Another suggestion from the developer is a standalone browser, which will be able to play Flash content.
Furthermore, it is acknowledged in the post that Adobe might have some licensed components that cannot be used publicly. Still, Linstedt remains hopeful that this will not be a roadblock. «Simply leave them out with a note explaining what was removed, » he asks. «We will either bypass them, or replace them with open source alternatives.»
The developer is asking others to sign the petition by starring the GitHub post. As of this writing, the petition has garnered almost 4,190 signatures, which steadily continues to rise.
Even before Adobe announced ending support for Flash by 2020, companies like Apple, Google, Mozilla, and Microsoft have taken steps towards blocking Flash content by default in their respective browsers, which would indicate that Flash won’t be missed all that much, and perhaps needs to die .
Source: GitHub via BleepingComputer
