A Final Goodbye to Flash: The Move to HTML5 Charting

A charting component was born eleven years ago. FusionCharts was the name of the application, and it was written in Adobe Flash (then Macromedia Flash). Flash was a pretty cool technology back then, but now that we’re in 2013, with modern web standards, it’s time to say goodbye.

While we released our JavaScript (HTML5) version in 2010, we continued to work on our Flash version at the same time, devoting equal time and effort to it for two reasons. First, we wanted to ensure that users could access the chart even on smartphones without modern browsers — these browsers didn’t support HTML5 at the time, but they did support Flash. Second, our product was used by over 20,000 organizations and half a million developers, and not all of them could make the transition overnight. They should not be required to. But that shouldn’t stop them from having the most up-to-date charting information. So we spent three years working on both the JavaScript (HTML5) and Flash versions concurrently.

However, modern browsers are now found on the vast majority of smartphones, and the majority of our customers have made the switch. It is time to break free from the shackles of the past. It’s time to bid Flash farewell.

Thank you for everything, Flash. Hello, JavaScript — we’ve got things to do and places to go.

Umm ok, so what should I expect from you guys hereon?

• Starting next quarter, FusionCharts Suite XT will be a JavaScript-only library in the true sense. More events, better performance, more intuitive API and a lot more coming early next quarter. And all of this while we continue supporting IE 6, 7 and 8. Sounds interesting? Fill up this form to get early access to it.
• We want to have faster releases and better visualization capabilities in our JavaScript version, which calls for a stronger focus. So we will not be developing on the Flash version any further. Major bug fixes and technical support would, however, be available till Aug 31st, 2014. The transition to the JavaScript-only version will be seamless and take all of 60 seconds.
• We are really serious about the focus thing. So we are discontinuing all our extensions as well (FusionCharts for Flex, VB, Dreamweaver and more). Existing customers will continue getting support till Feb 28th, 2014.

I am a FusionCharts customer. Do I need to buy a new license?

No, not at all. If you have an active Support and Upgrades Subscription, you can get the JavaScript-only version for free. Try the Data Visualization Tool trial version.

If you don’t, you can purchase it here for non-commercial licenses or contact your sales representative for commercial licenses (SaaS and RDL).

As always, we would love to hear from you. Questions? Suggestions? Feedback? What about the JavaScript-only version excites you the most? Let us know in the comments below.

(*hat tip The Internet Explorer 6 countdown)