This is just sad but inevitable. To this date Macromedia Flash MX was one of the most beginner friendly , yet super powerful tools I've ever used. Probably what dragged me even more into computers back when i was a kid.
Things from flash era I really liked:
* How their comprehensive tutorial was just a .FLA file , that automatically opened on the first run, that you can even edit. I feel like blender, kicad - both the tools i want to learn right now, could use something like that.
* Progress bars - you know that once the progress bar fills up, the website/game etc.. is fully loaded onto your machine and you can simply disconnect the Dial up modem and continue checking things out . I wonder if this kind of behaviour might benefit today's SPAs.. especially when you can just download a wasm blob and you know it'll be cached.. at least for websites which don't have to be searchable by a search engine and are more than just documents.
* I don't know where we went wrong but these days we download megabytes of JavaScript and so many raster images and still offer way less fluid experience than what flash sites used to be like. I know some of it also was because of responsive design requirements across so many form factors, but there's definitely something that we are missing and i don't know what it is. Svgs are routinely "exported to high resolution pngs" for websites. Something just is off.
Macromedia Flash MX was also the first version released after Adobe started running scared and fighting dirty with a look-and-feel lawsuit against Macromedia Flash 5 for its use of tabbed UI palettes: https://web.archive.org/web/20010516014855/http://www.adobef...
“Adobe's tabbed palette, used throughout Adobe's products, are being copied by Macromedia® in many of its products, including Macromedia® Flash™ 5, Dreamweaver®, FreeHand® and Fireworks® software.”
Compare the infringing tabbed palettes of Flash 5 to the non-infringing (vertically-stacked) palettes of Flash MX:
> Starting March 1, 2026, the app will no longer be available for purchase.
>> I have already downloaded Animate. Will the app still work?
> Yes. Animate will continue to work.
I wish they were more explicit in describing exactly for how long - being subscription-based, it's not really something you purchase and own to run for eternity regardless of Adobe. So, will new CC subscriptions have access to Animate? Will the Animate app even run after March 2027?
It is a bit vague, but I think that this means that you aren't going to be able to use Animate altogether after 01/03/2027.
> Access to your Animate files and project data will end on the date that support ends. To ensure a smooth transition, we encourage you to export your Animate FLA and XFL files to other formats such as SWF, SVG, and MP4 before this date.
The fact with Software-as-a-Scam subscription stuff discontinued software doesn’t just mean "it'll probably bitrot away over time" (probably a bit more aggressively with MacOS than Windows) to "it'll just be gone" is kinda mad. See also Microsoft Publisher. These are supposedly professional tools, surely they can still make it available with a "YMMV" disclaimer so they don't leave their own customers (and their work) in the lurch.
To add insult to injury, the obvious path is for studios to switch from Adobe to ToonBoom... which already copied Adobe's playbook by going subscription-only last year.
For context, although Flash Player died a long time ago, the editor lived on in "offline" 2D animation workflows where the end result is rendered out to video. Lots of kids shows are still made with it, and at least some anime studios use it (e.g. Science SARU).
> Although the Flash Player app formally reached its end of life on December 31, 2020, Adobe has allowed a local Chinese company to continue distributing Flash inside China, where the application still remains a large part of the local IT ecosystem and is broadly used across both the public and private sectors.
Sounds like too many big institutional websites depend on Flash.
I’ve used Adobe Flash since it was still Macromedia Flash, and this is the software my brain kind of defaults to when thinking of creating little graphics and animations. Just as hobby for random tiny projects.
But what do people use that is not Animate for really quick animations and mock ups?
My first journey into flash was creating a graphic of a spinning smiley face with a GSW for the game pimp-wars. I didn't know anything about it. But I knew I wanted to make that graphic for my "gang".
True, but also a lot faster. At least, until client-side frameworks hit the scene, where one was forced to download 500kb of framework to render 5kb of text.
I recall, back in the late 90s, sitting for almost 3 minutes for a simple flash-based website to download over dial-up. That was painful.
This is just sad but inevitable. To this date Macromedia Flash MX was one of the most beginner friendly , yet super powerful tools I've ever used. Probably what dragged me even more into computers back when i was a kid.
Things from flash era I really liked:
* How their comprehensive tutorial was just a .FLA file , that automatically opened on the first run, that you can even edit. I feel like blender, kicad - both the tools i want to learn right now, could use something like that.
* Progress bars - you know that once the progress bar fills up, the website/game etc.. is fully loaded onto your machine and you can simply disconnect the Dial up modem and continue checking things out . I wonder if this kind of behaviour might benefit today's SPAs.. especially when you can just download a wasm blob and you know it'll be cached.. at least for websites which don't have to be searchable by a search engine and are more than just documents.
* I don't know where we went wrong but these days we download megabytes of JavaScript and so many raster images and still offer way less fluid experience than what flash sites used to be like. I know some of it also was because of responsive design requirements across so many form factors, but there's definitely something that we are missing and i don't know what it is. Svgs are routinely "exported to high resolution pngs" for websites. Something just is off.
Either way, RIP Flash
Macromedia Flash MX was also the first version released after Adobe started running scared and fighting dirty with a look-and-feel lawsuit against Macromedia Flash 5 for its use of tabbed UI palettes: https://web.archive.org/web/20010516014855/http://www.adobef...
“Adobe's tabbed palette, used throughout Adobe's products, are being copied by Macromedia® in many of its products, including Macromedia® Flash™ 5, Dreamweaver®, FreeHand® and Fireworks® software.”
Compare the infringing tabbed palettes of Flash 5 to the non-infringing (vertically-stacked) palettes of Flash MX:
- https://www.webdesignmuseum.org/old-software/macromedia-flas...
- https://www.webdesignmuseum.org/old-software/macromedia-flas...
And then of course Adobe gave in and bought Macromedia outright in the MX2004 era.
I think every art software I've ever used violates this patent.
Wow. These screenshots hit me so hard with nostalgia... especially the buttons, move the bug examples.
It took me a couple of days to download the flash mx release on my dial up connection. Crazy days...
From their FAQ:
> Starting March 1, 2026, the app will no longer be available for purchase.
>> I have already downloaded Animate. Will the app still work? > Yes. Animate will continue to work.
I wish they were more explicit in describing exactly for how long - being subscription-based, it's not really something you purchase and own to run for eternity regardless of Adobe. So, will new CC subscriptions have access to Animate? Will the Animate app even run after March 2027?
It is a bit vague, but I think that this means that you aren't going to be able to use Animate altogether after 01/03/2027.
> Access to your Animate files and project data will end on the date that support ends. To ensure a smooth transition, we encourage you to export your Animate FLA and XFL files to other formats such as SWF, SVG, and MP4 before this date.
The fact with Software-as-a-Scam subscription stuff discontinued software doesn’t just mean "it'll probably bitrot away over time" (probably a bit more aggressively with MacOS than Windows) to "it'll just be gone" is kinda mad. See also Microsoft Publisher. These are supposedly professional tools, surely they can still make it available with a "YMMV" disclaimer so they don't leave their own customers (and their work) in the lurch.
To add insult to injury, the obvious path is for studios to switch from Adobe to ToonBoom... which already copied Adobe's playbook by going subscription-only last year.
For context, although Flash Player died a long time ago, the editor lived on in "offline" 2D animation workflows where the end result is rendered out to video. Lots of kids shows are still made with it, and at least some anime studios use it (e.g. Science SARU).
> although Flash Player died a long time ago
They still maintain it for China actually: https://gitlab.com/cleanflash/installer
Why?
https://www.gameslearningsociety.org/why-does-china-still-us...
> Although the Flash Player app formally reached its end of life on December 31, 2020, Adobe has allowed a local Chinese company to continue distributing Flash inside China, where the application still remains a large part of the local IT ecosystem and is broadly used across both the public and private sectors.
Sounds like too many big institutional websites depend on Flash.
Apparently at least one railroad needed it to route trains https://theinternetsaysitstrue.com/2023/11/27/flash-railroad...
Adobe Animate also has HTML5 export features.
Anyone know of good alternatives to this?
I’ve used Adobe Flash since it was still Macromedia Flash, and this is the software my brain kind of defaults to when thinking of creating little graphics and animations. Just as hobby for random tiny projects.
But what do people use that is not Animate for really quick animations and mock ups?
Clip Studio Paint seems very popular for animation. You could also consider Aseprite for pixel art animation.
While not a one-to-one situation, probably Blender and specifically Grease Pencil?
My first journey into flash was creating a graphic of a spinning smiley face with a GSW for the game pimp-wars. I didn't know anything about it. But I knew I wanted to make that graphic for my "gang".
The Internet got less fun with the disappearance of Flash.
True, but also a lot faster. At least, until client-side frameworks hit the scene, where one was forced to download 500kb of framework to render 5kb of text.
I recall, back in the late 90s, sitting for almost 3 minutes for a simple flash-based website to download over dial-up. That was painful.
I remember early 2000s growing up my mum would show me animated greeting cards people were sending us. Truly a magical time.