There is a lot of competition in the market place with a view to software that will enable 3D graphics so Adobe Flash is now in the fore front designing a system that will give 3D graphics support with its new version of browser plug in. This new system will be a huge step forward for Flash and was announced as a possibility in October at the Adobe Max conference, being put forward by Sebastian Marketsmueller their Adobe Flash Player engineer.
Product manager for Flash, Imbert Thibault hinted in his online blog of things to come from Flash not giving an exact date for its release but saying 3D graphics are the future and that a new version of Flash will support this. Flash Player 10 did have a limited 3D feature where 2D items could be controlled in a 3D space although this was not a full 3D setting plus most of the hard work Adobe spent on this system was for Smart Phones software. The introduction of a 3D interface will certainly be a huge step forward so a new number change will definitely be on the horizon.
Some of Flashes existing components are being redesigned such as HTML, CSS, SVG and JavaScript. For example a browser called Canvas that supports HTML’s 2D graphics technology plus Web Open Font Format or WOFF. Other important browsers are already being fitted with 3D technology called WebGL; these are Mozilla Firefox, Google Chrome and Apple's Safari. Of course there are still many websites and developers that use 2d technologies with flash. For example ourWorld created by FlowPlay inc uses 2d flash capabilities to create a vast 2d vector world where you can play more games like ourworld in which you can talk and interact with other players.
Flash indeed overcomes the problem of browser compatibility by providing an interface although it does have its own niggles such as Flash elements on a web page may be isolated so act differently plus there are security issues. Online games however are a major user of flash though some have the opinions that these are the simpler games the more difficult games tending to interface such as Microsoft's direct 3D which is a native interface.
Flash at this time won't replace native interface systems but it is acknowledged that the introduction of 3D capabilities would increase the scope of games for developers which in turn would add new depth to games such as ones with racing cars while mobile appliances with limited battery life would obviously require further support in this area.
Each browser has its own preference some moving from Flash to HTML5 but You Tube still prefers the Flash system while Google has inbuilt Flash into its Chrome version. Although it is not known precisely when Flash will launch its 3D system it is expected to be launched within a year of Google's VP8 video compression technology. We can also expect 64 bit support to be included in Flash's next new release along with becoming more involved in HTML and CSS.