Freeware and Open Source
With the end of Flash looming it's important to know what "Freeware" and "Open-Source" mean and what the difference between them is.
As these aren't terms the average person will understand the meaning of, I'll pull together some references and links so you people can educate themselves.
If you take a little bit of time educating yourselves as to what these terms means you will be able to sort the wheat from he chaff when it comes to what people say about Flash End of Life whether that be official Plarium statements, moderators or other forums users.
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Dictionary Definitions:
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More Detailed Definitions:
This is what Wikipedia has to say about Freeware and Open-Source software:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Freeware
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Open-source_software
Wikipedia says Freeware is:
Freeware is software, most often proprietary, that is distributed at no monetary cost to the end user. There is no agreed-upon set of rights, license, or EULA that defines freeware unambiguously; every publisher defines its own rules for the freeware it offers. For instance, modification, redistribution by third parties, and reverse engineering without the author's permission are permitted by some publishers but prohibited by others.[1][2][3] Unlike with free and open-source software, which are also often distributed free of charge, the source code for freeware is typically not made available
Wikipedia says Open Source is:
Open-source software (OSS) is a type of computer software in which source code is released under a license in which the copyright holder grants users the rights to use, study, change, and distribute the software to anyone and for any purpose.[1] Open-source software may be developed in a collaborative public manner. Open-source software is a prominent example of open collaboration
There are several organisations that have attempted to bring consistency to what the definition of open-source is and how it should be managed and maintained. One of them is the Open Source Initiative and it has a useful definition open-source, which can be found here:
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What Does All this Mean:
It's worth noting that both Freeware and Open Source have no specific definition in law. For both the the licensing agreement you agree to when you use the software sets out legally what you can and can't do with the software.
With open source there are a number of standard licensing agreements, due to the efforts of the organizations that have attempted to bring order to open-source. Even then there are hundreds of different agreement types and wordings. With free-ware there are no common legal wordings and each specific licensing agreement will be different.
So the only way to know exactly what you can and can't do with a piece of software is to refer to the licensing agreement.
Having said that there are common threads to what freeware and open-source are:
- Both freeware and open source software are usually intended to reach end users free of charge
- With open-source software you will usually have the right to view, modify and redistribute the source-code. You can't do that with freeware
With both the developer of the software retains proprietary rights over the software. With freeware the owner retains significantly more rights, likely to include you not attempting to view the source code, modify the source code or redistribute the source code (or versions of it you have modified).
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Which is Flash?:
Flash is Freeware only.
Adobe own flash. They retain significant proprietary rights over Flash even though they chose to make it freely available. Those rights are set out in their end-user and distribution licenses which can be found here:
https://labs.adobe.com/technologies/eula/flashplayer10.html
Some key points are:
- You are not allowed to modify or reverse engineer the code or to adapt, translate or create derivative works based upon the Software (section 4.5)
- You are not allowed to distribute Flash unless you have a distribution license (section 3.3)
- It's quite clear that Adobe retains all rights to the software as it's intellectual property (section 6)
You used to be able to see the distribution license online but it seems it's no longer readily made available. So you will have to take my word for it that you can't distribute flash or embed flash in an application without a license from Adobe.
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What Does This All Mean (bear in mind this section is my interpretation):
The Facts:
Just because you got flash for free doesn't mean you have unlimited rights to it. Your rights are set out in the end-user agreement.
Just because it was distributed for free doesn't give anyone the right to view the source code, modify it and distribute their modification (or an unmodified version). In fact you are specifically NOT allowed to do that.
If someone claims they will continue to support Flash after EoL, provide updates for it to keep it working and distribute those updates to you, that will be ILLEGAL.
The official Adobe statement about Flash EoL can be found here:
https://www.adobe.com/uk/products/flashplayer/end-of-life.html
Some of the key elements are:
- Customer should not use Flash after 2020 because it is not supported by Adobe
- Adobe will not issue security updates for Flash after Dec 31 2020
- You are recommended not to download Flash after 2020 because no official version of Flash will be available after that date and unauthorised downloads are a common source of viruses and malware
- Users are recommended to uninstall Flash
- Users will be promoted to uninstall Flash later in the year
- Flash-based content will be blocked from running in Adobe Flash Player after the EOL Date
The Speculation:
Adobe are not allowed to go into your computer and delete the Flash files on your computer (nor without effectively hacking you could they).
But the last statement in the official statement has led many people to speculate that Adobe has include a "Timebomb" into Flash which simply stop it from working on your computer post 31 Dec 2020.
You can google "Adobe Flash Timebomb" and see many such articles for yourself (make sure you include the word Adobe or you will get nothing but stuff about "The Flash" TV series - lol).
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I hope you find this useful.
I have kept this as much as possible about disclosing the facts and not about speculating, or providing my opinion.
I have referenced the official sources so you can go read them for yourself and make your own judgment without the need to rely on what anyone else says (including me)
I strongly recommend you do so. That is the only way you are going to be able to determine the truth about Flash EoL.
