Adobe And Google To Bring Flash Player To Linux

Adobe has announced that it, and Google will be partnering to bring Adobe Flash Player to Linux users. The move has been talked about in the recently released roadmap from Adobe for Flash runtimes. The duo plan to work closely together on the development of a single modern API for hosting plug-ins within a browser. The goal is to replace the current Netscape API that Flash Player uses.

The new API is code-named "Pepper" and is intended to provide a layer between the plug-in and the browser to take away any differences between the browser and operating system used. The goal of Pepper is to provide an implementation of Flash Player, which will work for all x86/64 platforms that the Google Chrome browser operates on. Adobe notes that after the release of Flash Player 11.2, the Pepper API will only be available via the Google Chrome browser and will not be offered for direct download.

Adobe also pledges to provide security updates on non-Pepper distributions of 11.2 on Linux for an additional five years from the release date. Flash Player 11.2 is targeting Q1 2012 for release according to the roadmap. After the 11.2 launch, Adobe will begin working on another version code-named "Cyril" targeting Q2 2012 for launch. After "Cyril" comes "Dolores" in the second half of 2012. Flash Player "Next" is also in the works with Adobe stating that it will be a modernized version to serve the needs of developers over the next 5 to 10 years.