"Which makes you wonder...
"... why a service like this wasn't offered long ago"
Err, you mean like Secunia?
http://secunia.com/
Mozilla has introduced a service that checks plugins for the Internet Explorer, Chrome, Opera, and Safari browsers to make sure they don't contain known bugs or security vulnerabilities. The page builds off a feature rolled out last year that checked only for out-of-date plugins for Firefox. At the moment, the service offers …
Most people who know how to install flash already have the latest version, most of those who don't, would not know how to install it.
I remember the good old times when firefox would say, heck, you're missing a plugin, click here to install it, click here to restart firefox ... done.
No download manually BS from adobe's website ... that's what puts everybody off .. and I thought Sun had a bad website ... that was before I got to Adobe's.
Meg Ryan, because, she would not know how to install flash while sitting on the looooo emailing...