Users of Google Chrome on Linux, Mac and Windows machines were automatically upgraded Thursday to a new browser version that addresses several security bugs and features a fully integrated Flash multimedia player for the first time. Google Vice President of Engineering Linus Upson believes browser users will benefit in several different ways from Chrome’s integration of Adobe Systems Flash technology for the web.
“When users download Chrome, they will also receive the latest version of Adobe Flash Player” as well as “automatically receive updates related to Flash Player using Google Chrome’s auto-update mechanism,” Upson wrote in a blog. “There will be no need to install Flash Player” or “manually download separate updates,” which “reduces the security risk of using outdated versions.”
Flash Player 10.1 Unleashed
Adobe’s Flash Player 10.1 became available for desktops and notebooks on June 10. Among other things, the new version automatically shuts down content running in the player whenever the machine’s available memory runs low, Adobe Senior Engineering Director Paul Betlem wrote in a blog. Additionally, Flash Player apps will use significantly less CPU resources whenever the content is idle, consuming less power.
With Google Chrome’s integration of Adobe Flash, the two companies “have obviously done extra integration work here that other browser makers have not done,” said Al Hilwa, director of applications development software at IDC. “So outside of Chrome, people will get the standard Flash 10.1 plug-in.”
As an integral part of Chrome, Flash technology brings a lot of benefits, though realizing all of them fully may be a work in progress, Hilwa observed. “There is a potential reduction in complexity initially and potentially improved reliability and performance due to the combined testing and deeper integration,” Hilwa said. “In the long run, this type of integration is the only way to coordinate what the browser and the plug-in do together.”
Browsers don’t check Flash cookies or data storage when they tell users that their cookies and history have been deleted, Hilwa explained, because browser mechanisms don’t usually integrate with plug-in mechanisms. “With deeper integration of the two, they can potentially work in a concerted fashion to delete histories and cookies,” he said.
What’s more, Flash Player 10.1 is supposed to automatically manage stored data according to the private browsing settings in Chrome, Hilwa observed. “So when someone activates private browsing in Chrome, it is also activated in Flash Player,” he said.
HTML5 Versus Flash
Adobe’s collaboration with Google on Flash also extends to Android-powered mobile devices, with both companies seeing the benefits of working together to counter Apple’s Flash ban on iPhones, iPads and the iPod touch. Though Apple CEO Steve Jobs has stressed his preference for HTML5, which can help improve experiences for text-based content, some analysts don’t see HTML5 as a viable alternative to player-based technologies for designing rich, highly functional user experiences.
Still, Google sees the merit of harnessing the power of HTML5 in a browser that also fully integrates Flash. For example, Google’s Chrome development team has been working to incorporate a number of HTML5 features into Chrome, such as geolocation APIs, app cache, web sockets, and file drag and drop.
“For a taste of HTML5′s powerful features, try browsing through web sites developed in HTML5 such as scribd.com, dragging and dropping attachments in Gmail, or by enabling the geolocation functionality in Google Maps,” wrote Chrome Product Manager Brian Rakowski in a blog.
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