Microsoft has announced that it will be dropping support for Adobe Flash Player, in the version of it's Internet Explorer (IE) browser that will be integrated into its new "Metro" touch interface. The main desktop version of IE will remain unaffected.
Microsoft new interface, code named Metro after the inspiration their developers drew from the signage on the Seattle Metro Transit system, is designed to improve usability on touch devices such as Tablets and Phones.
Microsoft Head of IE development, Dean Hachamovitch blogged "The experience that plug-ins provide today is not a good match with Metro style browsing and the modern HTML5 web," he continued "Providing compatibility with legacy plug-in technologies would detract from, rather than improve, the consumer experience of browsing in the Metro style [user interface]"
Following Apple's Lead
The announcement by Microsoft follows a similar announcement from Apple in April 2010 by then CEO Steve Jobs, "We don't want to reduce the reliability and security of our iPhones, iPods and iPads by adding Flash"
Adobe have responded by stating that they expect the Windows standard desktop to be "popular for many years to come" and that many popular flash based apps to be ported to Metro via Adobe AIR
Source: BBC News, MSDN
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