Adobe Shockwave Player: Difference between revisions

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'''Adobe Shockwave Player''' (formerly '''Macromedia Shockwave Player''', and also known as '''Shockwave for Director''') was a [[freeware]] [[software]] [[Plug-in (computing)|plug-in]] for viewing [[multimedia]] and [[Video game|video games]] created on the [[Adobe Shockwave]] platform in [[web page]]s. Content was developed with [[Adobe Director]] and published on the Internet. Such content could be viewed in a [[web browser]] on any computer with the Shockwave Player plug-in installed. It was first developed by [[Macromedia]] and released in 1995; it was later acquired by [[Adobe Inc.|Adobe Systems]] in 2005.<ref>

Shockwave Player ran [[Adobe Shockwave|DCR files]] published by the [[Adobe Director]] environment. Shockwave Player supported [[raster graphics]], basic [[vector graphics]], [[3D computer graphics|3D graphics]], [[Digital audio|audio]], and an embedded scripting language called [[Lingo (programming language)|Lingo]].<ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=R3d6H9c-x3wC Macromedia Shockwave for Director User's Guide, Volume 1], New Riders Pub., January 1, 1996</ref><ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=8nAQ6l1TnGgC Macromedia Shockwave for Director, Volume 1], Hayden Books, 1996</ref> Hundreds of free online video games were developed using Shockwave, and published on websites such as [[Miniclip]] and Shockwave.com.<ref>{{citeCite web |url=http://www.shockwave.com/home.jsp |title=Shockwave.com |access-date=May 28, 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150528102909/http://www.shockwave.com/home.jsp |archive-date=May 28, 2015 |url-status=dead}}</ref>

As of July 2011, a survey found that Flash Player had 99% market penetration in desktop browsers in "mature markets" (United States, Canada, United Kingdom, France, Germany, Japan, Australia, and New Zealand), while Shockwave Player claimed only 41% in these markets.<ref name="Adobe">{{cite web |title=Flash content reaches 99% of Internet viewers |url=http://www.adobe.com/products/player_census/flashplayer/ |publisher=Adobe |access-date=August 7, 2014 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111002003244/http://www.adobe.com/products/player_census/flashplayer/ |archive-date=October 2, 2011 }}</ref> [[Adobe Flash Player|Flash Player]] was used as an alternative to Shockwave Player, with its more advanced [[Stage3D|3D rendering capabilities]] and [[ActionScript|object-oriented programming language]]. Flash Player cannot display Shockwave content, and Shockwave Player cannot display Flash content.<ref>{{citeCite web |url=https://www.adobe.com/products/flashplayer/faq.html|title=What is Adobe Flash Player &#124; FAQ &#124; Adobe Flash Player}}</ref>

In February 2019, Adobe announced that Adobe Shockwave, including the Shockwave Player, would be discontinued in April 2019.<ref name=":0">{{citeCite web |url=https://helpx.adobe.com/shockwave/shockwave-end-of-life-faq.html |title=End of Life (EOL) for Adobe Shockwave |website=helpx.adobe.com |access-date=December 23, 2019}}</ref> The final update for Adobe Shockwave Player was released on March 15, 2019. Shockwave Player is no longer available for download (as of October 8, 2019<ref name=":0" />), and most major web web browsers blocked the Shockwave Player plug-in from being used upon its discontinuation.<ref>{{citeCite web |url=https://www.howtogeek.com/410636/end-of-an-era-adobe-shockwave-dies-today/ |title=End of an Era: Adobe Shockwave Dies Today |last=Hoffman |first=Chris |website=How-To Geek |language=en-US |access-date=December 23, 2019}}</ref>

;Shockwave 1: The Shockwave plug-in for Netscape Navigator 2.0 was released in 1995, along with the stand-alone Afterburner utility to compress Director files for Shockwave playback. The first large-scale multimedia site to use Shockwave was Intel's 25th Anniversary of the Microprocessor.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www1.intel.com/intel/museum/25anniv/index.htm |title=Intel's 25th Anniversary of the Microprocessor |access-date=November 17, 2017 |url-status=bot: unknown |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/19970103021015/http://www1.intel.com/intel/museum/25anniv/index.htm |archive-date=January 3, 1997 }}</ref>

;Shockwave 10: Last version to support [[Mac OS X Panther|Mac OS X 10.3]] and lower, and [[Mac OS 9]].

;Shockwave 12.1: It is supported by 32-bit and 64-bit versions of Windows XP, Vista, 7, and 8. It has content made from previous versions as well as Director MX 2004. From version 12.1.5.155 Shockwave is supported in both Internet Explorer and Mozilla Firefox.<ref>{{cite web |title=LANDESK Patch News Bulletin: Adobe has Released Shockwave Player Version 12.1.1.151(executable install) for Windows 24-APR-2014|url=http://community.landesk.com/support/docs/DOC-31484|publisher=Landesk|access-date=May 7, 2014}}</ref>

== Platform support ==

Shockwave was available as a plug-in for the [[classic Mac OS]], [[macOS]], and 32 bit [[Microsoft Windows|Windows]] for most of its history. However, there was a notable break in support for the [[Mac (computer)|Macintosh]] between January 2006 (when [[Apple Inc.]] began the [[Mac transition to Intel processors]] based on the [[Intel Core#Core Duo|Intel Core Duo]]) and March 2008 (when Adobe Systems released Shockwave 11, the first version to run natively on Intel Macs).

Unlike Flash Player, Shockwave Player is not available for [[Linux]] or [[Oracle Solaris (operating system)|Solaris]] despite intense lobbying efforts. However, the Shockwave Player can be installed on Linux with [[CrossOver (software)|CrossOver]] (or by running a Windows version of a supported browser in [[Wine (software)|Wine]] with varying degrees of success). It is also possible to use Shockwave Player in the native Linux version of [[Firefox]] by using the [[Pipelight]] plugin (which is based on a modified version of Wine).

Some security experts advise users to uninstall Adobe Shockwave Player because "it bundles a component of Adobe Flash that is more than 15 months behind on security updates, and which can be used to backdoor virtually any computer running it", in the words of [[Brian Krebs]]. This opinion is based on research by Will Dormann, who goes on to say that Shockwave is architecturally flawed because it contains a separate version of the Flash runtime that is updated much less often than Flash itself.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Pauli |first1=Darren |title=Shockwave shocker: Plugin includes un-patched version of Flash |url=https://www.theregister.co.uk/2014/05/23/shockwave_shocker_movie_box_riddled_with_0day_archive_of_antiquity/ |website=The Register |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140523185931/http://www.theregister.co.uk/2014/05/23/shockwave_shocker_movie_box_riddled_with_0day_archive_of_antiquity/ |archive-date=May 23, 2014 |date=May 23, 2014 |url-status=live }}</ref> Additionally Krebs writes that "Shockwave has several modules that don't opt in to trivial exploit mitigation techniques built into Microsoft Windows, such as [[Microsoft-specific exception handling mechanisms|SafeSEH]]."<ref>{{cite web |last1=Krebs |first1=Brian |title=Why You Should Ditch Adobe Shockwave |url=http://krebsonsecurity.com/2014/05/why-you-should-ditch-adobe-shockwave/ |website=Krebs on Security blog |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140525065654/http://krebsonsecurity.com/2014/05/why-you-should-ditch-adobe-shockwave/ |archive-date=May 25, 2014 |date=May 21, 2014 |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{cite web |last1=Goodin |first1=Dan |title=Adobe Shockwave bundles Flash that's 15 months behind on security fixes |url=https://arstechnica.com/security/2014/05/adobe-shockwave-bundles-flash-thats-15-months-behind-on-security-fixes/ |website=Ars Technica |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140522162824/http://arstechnica.com/security/2014/05/adobe-shockwave-bundles-flash-thats-15-months-behind-on-security-fixes/ |archive-date=May 22, 2014 |date=May 21, 2014 |url-status=live }}</ref>

== Branding and name confusion ==

In an attempt to raise its brand profile, all Macromedia players prefixed ''Shockwave'' to their names in the late 1990s. Although this campaign was successful and helped establish [[Adobe Flash Player|Shockwave Flash]] as a multimedia plugin,{{Citationcitation needed|date=August 2012}} Shockwave and [[SWF|Flash]] became more difficult to maintain as separate products. In 2005, Macromedia marketed three distinct browser player [[plug-in (computing)|plugins]] under the brand names [[Adobe Authorware|Macromedia Authorware]], Macromedia Shockwave, and [[Adobe Flash Player|Macromedia Flash]].

== See also ==

* [[Adobe Flash]]

* [[Adobe Integrated Runtime|Adobe AIR]]

* [[Adobe Acrobat|Adobe Reader]]

== References ==

{{reflistReflist|30em}}

== External links ==

* [https://helpx.adobe.com/shockwave/shockwave-end-of-life-faq.html Adobe Shockwave Player]

[[Category:Adobe software|Shockwave Player]]

[[Category:Macromedia software|Shockwave Player]]

[[Category:Discontinued Adobe software|Shockwave Player]]