Mozilla’s Firefox to begin blocking Adobe Flash in 2017

Mozilla’s Firefox is joining the conga line of companies ditching Adobe Flash.

Beginning in 2017, Firefox users will be offered an option to activate a Flash-enabled video, meaning the buggy software will no longer load automatically. Mozilla blamed Flash’s swath of “stability, performance, and security issues” for the change.

Prior to the click-to-activate option rolling out to all users, Mozilla will block certain Flash content that is “not essential to the user experience,” such Flash-enabled ads and videos. “These and future changes will bring Firefox users enhanced security, improved battery life, faster page load, and better browser responsiveness,” the company said.

Adobe Flash has long been denounced by users for its weak security and performance problems, so developers are gravitating to the more stable HTML5. With the recent news that other popular browsers, such as Google’s Chrome and Apple’s Safari, banishing Flash, its time is soon officially coming to an end.

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