The Adobe Flash Farewell Tour 2020: LibreOffice to axe export support for .SWF in version 7
- Reference: 1587731588
- News link: https://www.theregister.co.uk/2020/04/24/libreoffice_v7_flash_support_axed/
- Source link:
Noted by [1]Phoronix , the death knell of the tech that, frankly, most had forgotten was even there in the first place was noted not with fireworks but with a [2]terse commit stating that with Adobe retiring the tech by the end of 2020, there was little point in keeping the functionality to export to .SWF in the project anymore.
The release notes also [3]highlighted the deprecation : "Macromedia Flash export filter was removed."
A look at the LibreOffice [4]timeline shows the technology dates back to 2003, with OpenOffice.org 1.1 boasting the ability to export presentations to Flash as well as a one-click export to PDF. A fork of the code brought forth LibreOffice in 2010. Version 7.0.0 is scheduled for early August.
The change has lightened the source by a good few thousand lines, and comes after [5]Adobe's 2017 confirmation that Flash was for the chop . Microsoft, Google and Mozilla are in the process of removing the multimedia tech - and its Swiss-cheese tendencies - from their browsers and Adobe will be pulling down the blinds for the last time by the end of 2020.
As well as the removal of the .SWF filter, LibreOffice 7 should see the DOCX filter save in 2013/2016/2019 mode instead of 2007 compatibility mode, not ideal for those working with users running older versions of Word, but as the current draft release notes state: "Word 2010 users should upgrade to LibreOffice."
Other improvements documented in the current release notes are performance jumps throughout the suite, UI tweaks, and the replacement of the Cairo library by the Skia library in the core project for the rendering of text. The Skia graphics library can also be found in Google Chrome.
The first alpha release of version 7.0.0 is due between 4 May and 10 May.
It has been a long time coming, but the end of the road for Flash is nearing. ®
Sponsored: [6]How to Build Your Digital Experience Portfolio
[1] https://www.phoronix.com/scan.php?page=news_item&px=LibreOffice-7.0-Drops-Adobe-SWF
[2] https://cgit.freedesktop.org/libreoffice/core/commit/?id=63e43c1db9d0d5c52916dc6d2d7cd1d3d9bcae76
[3] https://wiki.documentfoundation.org/ReleaseNotes/7.0#Filters
[4] https://www.libreoffice.org/about-us/libreoffice-timeline/
[5] https://www.theregister.co.uk/2017/07/25/flash_nahuh_internets_screen_door_gone_for_good_by_2020/
[6] https://go.theregister.co.uk/tl/1936/-8578/how-to-build-your-digital-experience-portfolio?td=wptl1936
Export to HTML5?
How about an option to export Impress to HTML5, including animations?
Re: Export to HTML5?
Exactly, I agree. Flash haters are only viewing this through the lens of business outcomes; over the past 20 years there have been hundreds of THOUSANDS of artists, both paid and fan/independent, who have created Flash-based art. Now I've backed up an older version of the Flash installer to allow me to continue to access my legacy art trove, but future potential viewers may have a lot of difficulty accessing this equivalent of an online art museum.
Still companies trying to foist it on users
There are still large companies *cough*Vanguard*cough* who try to convince clients to conduct sales chats with a Flash client, and get all confused when you tell them you'd rather eat vomit. They see it as a failing of the stupid customer who won't cooperate rather than as a massive techincal fail from their employer.
Re: Still companies trying to foist it on users
Disney's partner site requires flash to be able to do anything - the only way they will accept designs etc. for approval. Knowing how badly their IT is behind (EDI project we were told would be live Q4 2017 has still to materialise to even beta stage) they'll probably insist we carry on using it beyond the end of the year as well.
Anon for obvious reasons.
Re: Still companies trying to foist it on users
Companies run by imbeciles.
The only way to be sure,...
IS TO NUKE THE DAMNED THING FROM ORBIT!
Re: The only way to be sure,...
In the word of Strongbad emails
DELETED
Re: The only way to be sure,...
Strong Bad is mostly in Flash, so what will happen to him?
LibreOffice has Flash/SWF support?
They* say you should learn something new every day! Well, LibreOffice having Flash/SWF support was something I'd never realised until reading this article and nor was it anything I'd ever wanted.
* No, I don't know who "they" are, either. Sometimes I wish they'd just shut up!
Burn it with fire, Flash is a dumpster fire in 2020.