It would be the understatement of the century to say that 2020 was a somber year. Not a single facet of life wasn’t affected by the devastating coronavirus pandemic, and the world can collectively sigh in relief that it is finally over. However, 2020 did have one last surprising report that has the tech world talking, which is that Adobe Flash will finally be discontinued in 2021.

The well known, but somewhat despised, multi-platform browser plug-in was used to support content across the internet for the past two decades. Although Flash was widely utilized, the software had a known reputation for being buggy, prone to malware, and generally unsure. And over the past decade, the internet and content providers have found a variety of alternatives, making Flash almost totally obsolete. Adobe Flash has been around for so long that many users feel that the discontinuation marks the end of an era, which is why the announcement has been breaking news across the web.

Adobe’s official website has been updated with a statement to users that those who have the program should uninstall it to avoid computer difficulties.

“After the EOL Date, Adobe does not intend to issue Flash Player updates or security patches.  Therefore, Adobe will continue to prompt users to uninstall Flash Player and strongly recommends that all users immediately uninstall Flash Player. To help secure users’ systems, Adobe will block Flash content from running in Flash Player beginning 12 January 2021. Major browser vendors will disable Flash Player from running after the EOL Date.”