Here is an example of how messed up things are. We all complain about Flash, from sometimes being resource angry, to having lots of vulnerabilities.

A lot of people also keep saying how great Google Chrome is. And Google Chrome comes with its own built-in Flash platform, something we can't update independently if a new Flash version is released.

Today when I went to the Xero login page it says "You do not have a current version of Flash installed. We highly recommend that you update to the latest version of Flash before using Xero." And since I am using latest and greatest Google Chrome, I have no way to update it.



This is another example of the mess created by having browsers incorporating third party platforms directly. Developers that want to make sure users have the benefits of the latest developments keep checking browser version ("hey you, stop using Internet Explorer 6") and platform versions ("hey you stop using this old Flash version" or "hey you, stop using the Java Runtime and upgrade it or risk being delivered something that will mess your computer).

The fastest browsers move to HTML5 and leave this behind the better. Also, Xero will need to update their code to make sure you are using the latest Chrome, not the latest Flash.