Google has confirmed that future versions of its Google Chrome browser will integrate Adobe’s Flash plug-in.
The move looks set to aggravate relations with Apple a little further, who have declared the Flash platform to be too unstable, too buggy and too much of a CPU hog to grace the company’s iPhone and iPad devices.
Others have suggested that Apple’s shunning of the popular technology is far more to do with the potential damage to app sales that could be hit badly if developers offer Flash-powered games and products on the web instead.
Keen to point out the advantages of Flash, Google’s blog comments:
Adobe Flash Player is the most widely used web browser plug-in. It enables a wide range of applications and content on the Internet, from games, to video, to enterprise apps.
The traditional browser plug-in model has enabled tremendous innovation on the web, but it also presents challenges for both plug-ins and browsers. The browser plug-in interface is loosely specified, limited in capability and varies across browsers and operating systems. This can lead to incompatibilities, reduction in performance and some security headaches.
That’s why we are working with Adobe, Mozilla and the broader community to help define the next generation browser plug-in API. This new API aims to address the shortcomings of the current browser plug-in model. There is much to do and we’re eager to get started.
With Google directly embedding Flash support into its browser, users won’t be prompted to manually download and install updates in the future, although Google hasn’t commented if it will be possible for users to opt-out of the installation.
“We’re making available an initial integration of Flash Player with Chrome in the developer channel. We plan to bring this functionality to all Chrome users as quickly as we can,” say Google.
[Via]
