Windows 8 to include Flash integration?
According to reports, Microsoft is looking to integrate Adobe Flash capabilities into Internet Explorer 10.
Adobe Flash will function on any website when the browser is ran as a desktop application, but will be limited when used as a Metro-style browser on tablet devices.
Screenshots from WinUnleaked, released by Windows 'insider' Canouna through a tweet, show that the browser 'plugin' will have some functionality in the Metro version of Internet Explorer 10, even though previous reports have stated such plugins were to be barred from use -- as the corporation expects a radical shift towards HTML5 in the coming years, and away from plugin services.
The Flash capability of the Metro browser is reported to be limited to "trusted" websites. These include streaming sites such as Hulu, YouTube, and Vimeo, news broadcasters such as CNN and the BBC, and a number of entertainment and social media sites including Facebook.
Internet Explorer chief Dean Hachamovitch has previously called Flash and other similar plugins a "relic" of an archaic time in the development of Internet services. He said:
"Running Metro-style IE plug-in free improves battery life as well as security, reliability, and privacy for consumers. Plug-ins were important early on in the Web's history. But the Web has come a long way since then with HTML5.
Providing compatibility with legacy plug-in technologies would detract from, rather than improve, the consumer experience of browsing in the Metro-style UI."
However, as many websites are still reliant on Flash, removing the capabilities of the Metro browser from running it had the potential to damage its attractiveness to consumers. As an integrated facility, Microsoft side-steps its previous conviction -- as it will not be treated as a standard plugin, instead, as a feature of the browser itself.
Microsoft's anticipated Release Preview version of Windows 8 is to be launched in the first week of June.
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