Disadvantages Flash also has some disadvantages:
Flash is designed to run as a client-safe application, meaning it is not able to access the local client machine, even if it's run on a standalone player. To be able to save and load local files, as well as access the local system, it needs a wrapper application like Multidmedia's [2] Zinc [3].
Internet .swf files may not be saved from the browser program. However, a copy is loaded into the browser's temporary internet files folder from where it can be retrieved, although few Web Browsers allow you to save Flash content like Maxthon(formerly MyIE2)*[4] Flash content is not tied to the HTML framework, so it does not use browser settings for font size, color, etc; Text may appear tiny for vision-impaired people or those with high resolution screens. Users can still zoom in the Flash movie if the developer hasn't disabled this feature.
Flash content is binary and thus more challenging for search engines to index than HTML. As a result, sites using solely Flash experience will have decreased visibility for their inner content in search engines. Google, however, indexes the content of Flash files (for example: [5]). Macromedia has also released a search engine SDK to make it easy for search engines to index Flash content.
Though the Flash SWF format is an ostensibly "open" format (i.e. it is published), Macromedia retains control of it. Since Flash files do not depend on a truly open standard such as SVG, this reduces the incentive for non-commercial software to support the format (although there are several third party tools which utilize and generate the SWF file format).
Apparently, the Flash Player cannot ship as part of a pure open source, or completely free operating system, as its distribution is bound to the Macromedia Licensing Program and subject to approval.
Due to Flash's graphical nature, it does not degrade gracefully for disabled users. Websites have to overcome this by providing alternative content (for example, in HTML) or by using the accessibility features built into Flash since 2002. See also computer accessibility.
Depending on the type of application or animation created, a Flash movie may need lots of CPU power to be played at its original framerate. In particular, large screen updates (as in photographic or text fades) make heavy use of computer resources.
Recently, a technique for tracking visitor data with Flash's ability to keep user data has arisen. Given the fact that users nowadays are used to deleting their browser's cookies once in a while, some advertisers are using a technique called PIE instead. This technique relies on using Flash to save data on the client machine, emulating browser cookies. (Just like cookies, this data can also be cleaned or disabled altogether; Macromedia has a page explaining this feature).
Flash MX 2004, the latest release, addresses several of the disadvantages. See this discussion of Flash and usability.
Security Flash Player uses a sandbox security model, which means that Flash applications running in a browser have very strict and limited resources available to them. The applications cannot, for example, read files from the hard disk (except the cookie-like data they themselves have written). They can only communicate with the domain they originated from, unless explicitly allowed by another domain.
Flash Player is, as any application that handles files received from the Internet, susceptible to attacks. Specially crafted files could cause the application to malfunction, potentially allowing execution of malevolent code. There have never been any actual problems, but the Player plug-in has had security flaws which theoretically may expose a computer to remote attacks (see [6] and [7] for a December 2002 problem, addressed by a public warning and patch from Macromedia). There have been no (published) security incidents since. Flash Player is considered safe to use, especially when compared to modern browsers in general.
The Flash application files can quite easily be decompiled into its source code and assets. Several available programs extract graphics, sounds and program code from swf files. For example, an open source program called Flasm allows users to extract ActionScript from a swf file as virtual machine intermediate language ("byte-code"), edit it, and then reinsert it into the file. Obfuscation of the swf files makes the extraction infeasible in most cases.
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