South African government releases its own browser just to re-enable Flash

(The joke in that last sentence is that the browser, to add insult to injury, only runs on Windows.)

The simple truth is that all the stories about Flash being buggy and open to exploits is that there was nothing in it that couldn't be fixed. For those with short memories they should remember that Microsoft also abandoned Silverlight, although there was nothing fundamentally wrong with it, and that its Linux equivalent Moonlight was also mothballed.

Flash was abandoned to buy time for Google and Microsoft to entrench themselves in desktop and browser apps which they now rent, because developing such apps for browser technologies is an expensive exercise in fitting square pegs in round holes only they have the manpower to afford, or to buy out competitors as the competitors find it hard to survive in markets they give stuff away for free until users get hooked on them.

Steve Job's ban on Flash was a blatant act rooted in self interest that the media conveniently ignored, spouting the nonsense about Flash's bugginess as though it couldn't be fixed.

As for Adobe(Flash) and Microsoft(Silverlight) why would they support tools which would enable competitors to offer applications over the net that could rival their desktop offerings?

It is in the same way that the latest snake oil, WebAssembly, is doomed to fail because GAM will never permit web applications that may equal or surpass their own offerings or threaten their mobile ecosystems.

On a side note who in their right mind develops contemporary desktop applications in C++ unless they want to deliver their applications in opaque blobs? Would Epic get into a spat with Apple if their games could be played through the browser?

Today so many people are so afflicted by the Stockholm Syndrome inflicted by GAM that they seriously believe that web apps cannot rival or match their desktop equivalents, somehow forgetting the huge increases in chip peformance on both mobiles and desktops that should make it a doddle in browsers that are stymied by "modern web safety and security standards", set by you know who.

To prevent the app from continuing to be used in the real-world to the detriment of users and their security, Adobe also began blocking Flash content from playing inside the app starting January 12, with the help of a time-bomb mechanism.

As Adobe hoped, this last step worked as intended and prevented companies from continuing using the software, forcing many to update systems and remove the app.

As SARS tweeted on January 12, the agency was impacted by the time-bomb mechanism,

and starting that day, the agency was unable to receive any tax filings via its web portal,

where the upload forms were designed as Flash widgets."

PDS: There's a greater problem at stake here. That problem can broadly be summarized as follows:

1) What happens when all forms of money/payment become electronic;

2) What happens when, for whatever reason, the underlying electronic system (which includes but is not limited to Computers, Software, Internet, etc.) -- fails?

Use another electronic system, right?

Well then what about:

3) What happens when one or more crucial components in ALL electronic payment systems (Internet, Electricity, Software, ?) -- fail simultaneously, at the same time?

?

It could never happen?

?

If you truly believe that, then please read the following:

https://www.joelonsoftware.com/2002/11/11/the-law-of-leaky-a...

Perhaps having equal parts Gold, Silver, Currency, and a stock of easily tradeable items (Coffee, Sugar, Flour, Soup Cans, Noodles, Water Filtration Devices, Batteries, etc.) would be a good hedge against that possibility...

Also, the right survival skills -- would be as valuable as Gold...