Adobe releases beta of 64-bit Flash for Mac OS X, Windows

Codenamed "Square," the release enables "native 64-bit support on Linux, Mac OS, and Windows." Since it is a preview, users should "use caution" when installing on production machines, as there may be stability issues with the release.

According to the release notes, the preview's known issues include problems with video playback on Hulu.com, Audi.co.uk and nbc.com. Users who install the update will need to manually install future updates to "Square" and eventually uninstall "Square" before installing a "final shipping version" of Flash Player.

In addition to 64-bit support, the release also adds support for hardware accelerated rendering in Internet Explorer 9 Beta. With the update, graphics performance in Internet Explorer 9 Beta improves as much as 35 percent. Hardware acceleration for Flash Player 10.1 for Mac was added in August.

The relationship between Apple and Adobe has been tumultuous as of late. At a company meeting, Apple CEO Steve Jobs allegedly called the company "lazy," blaming Adobe Flash as the cause of most crashes on Macs.

"They have all this potential to do interesting things but they just refuse to do it," Jobs was paraphrased as saying.

Adobe announced last week that it would resume development of its Flash to iPhone porting tool now that Apple has relaxed restrictions banning third-party development tools for the iOS platform.