Adobe has murdered Flash for 64-bit Linux. At least for the moment.

On Thursday, the company took the beta tag off the 32-bit Flash Player 10.1 for Windows, Linux, and Mac, and it released a slew of security updates for versions 10.0.45.2 and earlier. But at the same time, it posted a statement to the Adobe Labs page announcing the end of the Flash 10.1 for 64-bit Linux beta.

However, the company says it intends to offer 64-bit Linux support in a future release.

"The Flash Player 10.1 64-bit Linux beta is closed," the statement reads. "We remain committed to delivering 64-bit support in a future release of Flash Player. No further information is available at this time. Please feel free to continue your discussions on the Flash Player 10.1 desktop forums."

Ah, but if you visit the desktop forums, you're told not to discuss 64-bit Linux Flash, and you're pointed to the 64-bit Linux forum. And as a Slashdotter points out, the 64-bit forum has been set to read-only. "Like in a Kafka novel," says another Slashdotter. "I'm not sure whether I should laugh or cry... but it reminds me of reading The Trial."

Meanwhile, others have no intention of crying. "That's one down," reads the first comment, as Slahsdot points to the death of the 64-bit Linux player. "Now, get them to cancel flash on i386 Linux, then on MacOS, then Windows, and we'll be all set."

This does not appear to come from Steve Jobs.

Though it has closed the Flash 10.1 for 64-bit Linux beta, Adobe tells us that it still intends to offer 64-bit Linux support in a future version of the player. "We remain committed to bringing native 64-bit Flash Player for desktop operating systems," the company says. "We expect to provide native support for Windows, Macintosh, and Linux 64-bit platforms in an upcoming major release of Flash Player." ®