Google will not Index Flash Content
Flash websites will no longer be indexed by Google
End of Flash on Search Engines
If you’re reading this, you’ve most likely surpassed this issue and have nothing to worry about. Back in the day, Google announced that it would stop indexing Flash websites. Microsoft announced that it would stop supporting Flash in its web browsers. The impact for small businesses that still have websites or content will not be much as Google states, “most users and websites won’t see any impact from this change.” Apple stopped supporting Flash when it introduced the iPhone, which later led to the demise of Flash. But, a Flash-based website is recommended to transition to a more indexable one.
How We Can Help
Some of you may still have an old flash-based website and have missed this announcement. You should consider updating your website if you have a Flash-based website, as your business depends on Google search traffic.
Timeline and History of Flash
- Adobe Flash – History and Future
- 1996 – Macromedia Flash
- Macromedia Flash v4 introduced basic HTTP API’s
- Flash v5 ActionScript v1 + XML API’s
- April 2006 – Adobe buys Macromedia
- Adobe Flash CS3 – ActionScript 3 + Air
- Flash CS5 – AIR for iOS and Android
- Adobe Animate Focus on Gaming, web + Mobile + Desktop
When did it start? Macromedia Flash
Adobe Flash’s long history was made when PCs were first introduced for more purposes than data collecting. This started way back in 1992 when an American graphics company called Macromedia began making a program named Director, one of the first-ever interactive multimedia tools to make presentations, animations, and other Flash-type creations. They marketed products until 1996, when Future Wave created Adobe Flash.
Future Wave and the Birth of Adobe Flash
Future Wave Software was a small-time graphic developing company that created simple, smart sketch apps for tablets and their first marketing product in 1993. But when pen computing didn’t become as popular as the many computers, they started porting them into Windows and Macintosh. Later the co-founder Jonathan Gay dreamed of a perfect graphic editor, and after the failure of the Smart Sketch pen-operating system, he had the idea of enhancing them into the PCs. Before, there was no competition in the pen computing industry.
Dominance
Companies like Macromedia or programs like adobe illustrator were dominating the creation business. But the one thing Illustrator, FreeHand, and other vector-tool programs didn’t have was that they couldn’t support animation. In 1995 Gay’s team created an enhanced Smart Sketch for PC. It was initially a drawing application that made it easy to draw sketches for computers. Still, it was enhanced with frame-by-frame animation features that could challenge Macromedia’s Shock wave technology. This new application was named Future Splash Animator. As the internet became increasingly popular globally, many began to use the app.
The purpose was to make an easy and accessible interactive animation creator for everyone on the internet. This gave Future Wave a vast opportunity and became a rival to many other animations creating companies, including Macromedia. Alongside how popular Future Wave became were companies like MSN and Disney Online. Macromedia was also working with Disney, and its interactive web framework, Shock Wave.
The merger of Future Wave & Macro Media
Finally, FutureWave sold off its company and its popular product, Future Splash Animator. This later became known as Macromedia Flash (later Adobe Flash, and today Adobe Animate). In December 1996, Future Wave and Macromedia began to discuss a merger.
The internet becoming more widespread meant more interactive and accessible features. This included Flash, the basis of all web designing. In the coming years, Flash as a whole became the go-to for creating animations. Many updates and versions were released for the program, each with new interactive tools or bugs/fixes. Buttons, sounds, and a library were all included in the system.
Sales of Macro Media Flash hit 100,000
By 1998 Macromedia shipped over 100,000 flash products making Macromedia flash player one of the most incredible interactive graphic animation applications of its time. Many updates to the Flash System were made, more specifically in the years 1996 to 1999. They added things like Movie Clips, Alpha Transparency, and Action Scrip. Action Script was initially designed to control 2D vector animations. Macromedia then changed its point of view and began promoting it as a Web Application Platform. Being for the web would further excel in its broad reach. And many businesses started to create Flash websites and Flash content.
ActionScript 1.0 &ActionScript 2.0
Action script had some relation to JavaScript. With an action script, you could code actions based on events. In 2000, they released the first developed Action Script alongside Flash 5. Action script allowed fast script development and better interactive animations. Included in Action script 1 was a classification system that helped developers reuse codes, thus saving time and speeding up production.
In 2004 Action Script 2.0 with Flash MX was released. Action Script 2.0 featured class-based syntax. Using keywords to classify a class of objects was a lot simpler than selecting and making a prototype to classify objects. It made navigation and code reuse even easier.
Flash 8
In 2005 Macromedia created Flash 8, regarded as the most significant upgrade to flash since Flash 5. Flash 8 included many graphical upgrades. For example, filters, blends, and features for FLV video.
Adobe Jumps on Board with $3.4 Billion
In December 2005, Macromedia was purchased by Adobe Systems. Adobe bought all of Macromedia’s stocks for $3.4 billion. This was essentially the purchase of the whole company. Thus this purchase included Macromedia’s Flash, Dreamweaver, Director, and Author ware.
Adobe’s Flash CS3 Professional
In 2007 Adobe released the first version of Flash since the company’s purchase in 2005. This was called Adobe Flash CS3 Professional. Flash CS3 allowed businesses to create many widgets on the company’s websites using custom UI kits. It also included ActionScript 3.0, which targeted developers building advanced websites and applications. Developing sites had never been easier with Adobe at the time.
Apple Boots Adobe Flash Player
The future of web development kicks off, and Flash starts to face a downturn. With the new iPhone release from Apple in 2007, Adobe tried to create a compatible flash player for Safari. However, the performance was poor, so Apple did not endorse it. This resulted in the downfall of Flash player, especially the growing iPhone and Safari browser market.
Flash Player 11
In 2011, Flash Player 11 added Stage3D, which allowed for Graphics Processing Unit Accelerated 3d rendering in Flash applications and games for Desktop platforms such as Windows and Mac OS. Later updates would support 3D rendering on mobile devices for IOS and Android.
Fast forward to Adobe Flash Animate
In 2016, Adobe Flash CS6 was renamed Adobe Animate CC, and the collection of Adobe products was pushed to the “Cloud.” The software was only available as a subscription model. Overall, Adobe’s approach to this model paid off!
Though Adobe Animate is not fit for browsers, it’s a great tool that allows designers and developers to create mobile apps, animations, and games.
Facts about Adobe
As many companies used to do, Adobe Systems used to sell all of their software as ‘one and done’ boxed sets. This meant going to the store, grabbing the box containing Photoshop, Flash, or whatever software, and paying for it. That was it, what was in the box was what was there, and it stood alone. However, Adobe has begun selling subscriptions to all popular software packages. Instead of buying a particular version of Photoshop and owning it forever, now it’s required to pay Adobe monthly for the software.
Adobe’s Create Suite software
This has both its ups and downs. Adobe’s Create Suite software was quite expensive – starting at $1,300 for the whole suite, climbing to a potential $2,600 depending on the version. This is a hefty up-front cost. Prohibitively, those who don’t have $1,000 to drop on the software might not find it helpful. The subscription model is better for those trying Creative Suite software on a temporary or experimental basis. It costs less than $50 to try a single program for a month. They don’t pay for more subscriptions if the software is not helpful. A ‘rolling release’ subscription style also means that customers can get new features as they become available. They don’t have to wait for Photoshop’s ‘next’ version. It simply becomes available through the continuously updating version they already have. This is further encouragement to continue paying through subscriptions. It doesn’t require throwing down another $800 to get new features.
Fight Piracy
This feature allows Adobe to ‘fight piracy.’ The new subscription version of Creative Suite requires one to connect to Adobe’s servers. This makes it impossible to pirate Adobe’s software, as would-be pirates cannot access their servers. Being cheaper, it also encourages those pirating $1000 software to buy access to $50 software. All this does is put more money in Adobe’s pocket. As counter-intuitive as it may sound, piracy helps Adobe, meaning the software is being used everywhere. It makes people dependent on Adobe whether or not they pay, which puts Adobe in a powerful position.
Adobe used to cost $1300! p/a
A position that many artists and creative types are not happy about. Many people are upset that the software they depend on for a living is now a recurring payment. This ultimately costs more money in the long run, even though less money is involved up-front. Even if Adobe Creative Suite costs $1,300, purchasing a particular version and keeping it was undoubtedly viable. Even though one wouldn’t keep getting new features, the cost boundary was finite. With the subscription style, Adobe earns money if someone uses their software. It ends up being a resource sink, especially for those who can’t get the software under a discount.
Adobe’s Profits Gone Up
Adobe has undoubtedly seen its profits go up due to earlier factors. Every month, they receive money from every user instead of a lump sum per purchase. The significantly lower barrier to entry also has far more customers trying out their software. Because the said barrier is lower, there is less risk in trying out Creative Suite. And trial users who decide they can’t live
without it become more money for Adobe. This is very harmful to consumers, however. With all the eggs in one basket, Adobe is the lynchpin it all depends on. Adobe could raise prices, and there would be practically nothing customers could do. The subscription nature of the Creative Cloud means that customers can’t weather the storm with what they have. If they can’t or won’t pay for Creative Cloud, they will lose access to the programs. And for many of these people, these tools are how they make their livelihood. They cannot bargain and leave Adobe open to doing very consumer-unfriendly things.
Licensing Models
These changes mean users don’t own the software they’re paying for even more than existing software licensing models. These customers are merely renting the software from Adobe. This further restricts what little control they had under traditional license schemes. While most software packages only grant a license for use, that license is still a thing one owns. The license can be
used for whatever the user pleases, bearing some restrictions under the license and copyright law. Most people do not like having abilities and rights taken from them, especially if they have few to begin with.
Subscription Model Upsets Developers
This renting model upsets users as the programs do not undergo drastic changes. So most feel like they are paying for no real reason; they’re paying for the same thing each month. There’s seemingly no added value in the subscription besides the occasional new feature. Customers do not want to pay and only get occasional new features in return constantly.
The forced unification of all customers onto this rolling version of Creative Cloud is much nicer from a developer’s view. This is hard to argue against. There’s only one codebase to work on, bugs are fixed once, and maintenance is easier. A consistent rolling release makes far more sense from an engineering perspective. It makes much better use of programmer time, which is very expensive, which
saves Adobe money in the long run. This makes practical business sense and is a no-brainer.
Is Adobe in the Controller seat?
Adobe’s saving money is a significant reason, but it benefits customers. Focusing on a single version of Adobe tools means that developers can spend time making it stable. Stability is essential for a tool one will spend hours and hours using. Developers spend more time on coding is efficient at its highest. This leads to a better user experience with software and expands the range of hardware it runs nicely on. But Adobe still has all of the power in this dynamic. They won’t risk doing anything too upsetting for fear of bankrupting themselves, but they’re still the controller. This model is reminiscent of ‘my way or the highway,’ which leads to disgruntled customers if misused. But many customers will go with it anyway because they ‘need’ Adobe one way or another.
Summary of Adobe Creative Cloud
Creative Cloud is making a lot of money, approximately 55% of total revenue. This improved from stagnating during 2014, with an 8% revenue decline the year before. It was an excellent move from a pure business perspective. Adobe is doing much better revenue-wise than it had been for quite some time. They are succeeding in a world where many competitors struggle to keep up with them. Adobe might be winning, but that doesn’t necessarily mean that the customers are winning along with them. Time will tell if this move benefits the customers relying on Creative Suite as much as Adobe. Hopefully, the customers will win as much as Adobe in the end.
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