Browser Support?

[BioME]

All of the major browsers have announced that they will discontinue support of Adobe Animate, but does anyone know what that actually means.  For instance, one extreme may be that no one will ever be able to download the flash reader and run an swf, or even run the Animate on our own computers to compose FLA files or run our own SWFs, no way no how.  An opposite extreme may be that users will still be able to download the reader and run SWFs, but they can expect increasing compatability problems with browsers.

The reason I'm asking is that I have developed a process for converting SWFs into MP4s, and using HTML/CSS/JS to replace the ActionScript and restore user control.  However, I need to know how much time I have to complete the conversions before my students will no longer be able to use my old swf lessons.  Also, I need to know how much longer I'll be able to use Animate for the conversion process, and how long I have to master After Effects so that I can compose new lessons.

[ClayUUID]

"All of the major browsers have announced that they will discontinue support of Adobe Animate"

No, not a single browser maker has announced that. What they've announced is that they'll drop support for Flash Player, and yes, everyone knows exactly what that means. It means that modern web browsers won't play SWFs. That's all. I can't imagine how you'd think a web browser would stop Adobe Animate from running on someone's computer, or stop people from using the standalone player (not "reader").

As for when browsers will shut off SWF support, as far as I'm aware they're all going to do it at the same time Adobe drops support for Flash Player, which wil be the end of 2020.

[BioME]

Thanks for your opinions ClayUUID. 

First, let me respond to your statement "I can't imagine how you'd think a web browser would stop Adobe Animate from running on someone's computer."  Understand, I wasn't saying that I believe it will happen, I was asking if it will.  I raised because the experts in my IT department believe that it it might be the case.  Moreover, the consensus of everyone I discussed this with at the Adobe MAX meeting last fall was that it will probably happen, although no one was certain of the timeline.  Finally, it is what was stated by the article you linked to (the end of 2020).  For instance, the first line states "Today, Adobe announced its plans to stop supporting Flash at the end of 2020."  Note it did not say "that they'll drop support for Flash Player."  Indeed, the word player never appeared in the article. 

My real question is how much functionality will persist after 2020, and for how long.  I don't know if anyone really knows the answers to those questions, but any constructive comments that anyone could send would be greatly appreciated.

[ClayUUID]

It sounds like either your IT guys misunderstood your question, or you misunderstood the answer, or your IT department needs better experts. Yes, the article doesn't explicitly use the phrase "Flash Player". That changes nothing. In the specific context of WEB BROWSERS, technically competent people are assumed to understand that "Flash" refers to the Flash Player browser plugin.

As for post-2020 functionality, it is really well known that the major browser makers will remove Flash support in December 2020:

https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/help/4520411/adobe-flash-end-of-support

https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Plugins/Roadmap

https://www.chromium.org/flash-roadmap#TOC-Flash-Support-Removed-from-Chromium-Target:-Chrome-87---D...

Anyone wanting to continue to access Flash on the web after that will have to resort to emulators or unauthorized, outdated, or third-party browsers or plugins.

https://www.online-tech-tips.com/computer-tips/flash-player-in-chrome-is-dead-in-2020-how-to-play-fl...

And again, no, absolutely none of this will (or even can) affect the functionality of Adobe Animate, or Flash Professional, or Flash projectors, or local SWFs run via the standalone player.