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The problem is HTML. HTML is for documents, not the living application-like multimedia canvases we've all been using since 2000.
Flash was pointing in the right direction, but it was proprietary and Adobe screwed it up.

Simply setting up a usefull canvas layout is pure torture in HTML, with tons of libraries, JS and CSS hacks, just to get the thing sort of running.
Ginormous hacks such as Googles Polymer try to pry some sort of sanity from this plattform with a huge effort and enable modern age development, but the simple fact is, HTML is at least 15 years behind what Flash or similar approaches had to offer.
And don't even get me started on building a usefull web-application with useful clientside logic without a bizar convoluted mess of tie-ins and callbacks.

Example: This multimedia website in Flash is 16 years old. That is sixteen years . ... It's from freakin' 1999!!. It's parely possible to make such a thing with todays HTML, without becoming an all-out programming and browser expert and spending a forbidding amout of time getting it right.

HTML, CSS and client side logic - wether with JS or something else - need a massive redesign for modern day multimedia and multi-screen requirements. When that happens, performance will be sane again. I expect web components and web assembly to get us back on track a little, but that's gonna take at least another five years.

Bottom line:
The web is a mess, and frickin' HTML and the ignorant smelly boring nerds that still push it as a cure-all are to blame.

Disclaimer: I'm a senior web-developer with focus on FOSS technologies.

No, that would be far from the truth. HTML is more widespread at the moment.

HTML isn't a programming language. Nor does it have a unified VM.

HTML5 + Canvas + Video tag. There you go.

Proves once again: You, as every other person here ragging on Flash, do not know what you are talking about nore have you spent 3 minutes thinking about the subject. And I'm not being offensive here, I'm just stating the facts as they are.
There is no way that HTML5 + Canvas + Whatever can deliver the functionality of a unfied ubiquitous VM. Show me how to do this with any other technology in a feasable way and in such a way that it runs in all modern browsers hassle free. That includes the version of Chrome running on my HTC Desire HD. Which, btw., runs afore linked example without any problems aswell.
And, btw., that example is from 1999. In words: It's from Nineteen-F*CKING-Ninety-Nine!
And it still runs without a hitch on the newest version of Flash.

If you've managed to do that, then try this or this, or this , or, or ...

Bottom line:
You don't know what you are talking about. Seriously. Now you and the others can go ahead and mod this comment into the ground aswell if you so desire to embrace congnitive dissonance and supress the facts as they are.

Here's yer digital:
http://yugop.com/ver3/stuff/03/fla.html

IMHO, the INDUSTORIOUS CLOCK [sic] is the coolest handwritten timekeeper:

http://yugop.com/ver3/stuff/03/fla.html ...plus it has one-second resolution.

That's still my favorite, although some prefer Human Clock:

http://www.humanclock.com/

That one requires occasional thought, which makes it suboptimal for a quick time check. Yes, I am that lazy. =-)

The Japanese artist Yugo Nakamura designed a piece with a similar theme... in digital!

It's funny how analog time is glacially slow and digital time is totally manic.

this one better.

I love Google maps and I like what you can do with AJAX- but the fundamental problem with most browser based scripting technologies is that they're best at rending text. Don't get me wrong, anything that makes a webpage more responsive than the -click- load -click- is a step in the right direction.

Flash has earned a bad rep among programmers because it's often used for @#$?%! annoying and obtrusive ads and unnecessary web... page ... intros... that... just...- swoosha- won't... stop. On behalf of Flash developers everywhere, I would like to apologize for every 'punch the monkey' banner ad out there. But if it's used for browser rending of information being streamed over an XML socket (and no, you don't have to send XML over the connection- it's just a socket) it kicks *ss. it's scripting language, Actionscript is dead easy to learn. If you're used to Java, you can pick it up in a few days. And I'm sorry, but SVG doesn't even come close to touching it. I don't think that it will survive the Adobe/Macromedia merger.

My only beef with Flash is the vector rending pipeline. You get alpha for free but try overlaying a few transparent vectors and... performance... chugs. I'm crossing my fingers and hoping that the bitmap caching (you need the Flash 8 beta player to see bitmap caching in action) in the upcoming Flash 8 addresses this problem. The demo's I've seen look promising.

Check out Grant Skinner's or Yugo Nakamura work and if you want a great example of what you can do with real-time data in Flash- check out www.dentsu.com. What you see is the real-time position of all 30-some elevators in dentsu's corporate headquarters.

Disclaimer: I am currently a Flash Developer. If you want to see my work- it's at bodog.net. It's free online multiplayer poker and yes, those are real people playing. You can see the two technologies playing nicely together- the lobby was done using AJAX technology and the actual game tables are in Flash. Try refreshing the game table if you want an example of Flash using server-based persistance.

This one uses a little (of your) electricity, but technically it has no moving parts!

Digital Analog Clock

Slashdot has quite an amount of good programmers and a big heap of *nix users (or at least 'nix wannabees).
But honestly now, most rant about compatability and flash being o so crappy and superfluos (actually one of the main reasons to use flash is/was compatability), smartass about HTML being no typesetting language (blahblahblah...it makes me sick!) and at the same time make the crappiest webdesign one could ever imagine. Reading some the comments posted here just gets me fuming again about the arrogant *nix comunity.
Bluntly said: Most /.ers don't know sh*t about webdesign, in contrary to what they think their Webdesign is in quality.

My suggestion:
Get into it and try for yourself and learn form the people you've seen good webdesign from. A very good community is built around Zeldmans AListApart and WebStandards.org(stick to this site when your going into implementation phase!).

Top of the pops DESIGN (.dcr and flash - of course) you can find at Yugo Nakamuras Site Yugop (check out the archives!!) and at NosePilot(the link at the bottom!).
Note that this is DESIGN that is kinda over the top in the way that it actually allready is art.

If you're going to make a massivley content orientaded site you might want to go dynamic form the begining. Check out PHP/MySQL for this. Or get youself a full featured GPLd CMS that are out there for a dime a dozen, maybe like PHPNuke. But that's actually all more webprogramming, that kinda comes later on...

Good luck. Oh, and NEVER discuss design with the people of kornshell.com, xfree.org or listen to the advice from /. patrons. Of course I would be one of the exceptions to that. :-)

..acording to Qbertino:

Yugop
- my personal favorite. The only truly INTERACTIVE site I know.(check out the old stuff (archieves) too!!) Yugo Nakamura speaks the last word when it comes to design.

Gabocorp
-considered the reference of MM-rich websites by many designers. Too passive for my taste but the size/apperance ratio makes all those wannabe flashers cry...

Joecartoon
-I am a big fan of the british sort of humor (Monty Python and the sort), if you are too, youre gonna wet your pants at this site. Proves what all REAL designers know: simple but original does the trick. (Joe uses Flash 3!)

The Flashfilmfestival
-the cremé de la cremé of flashers pitch in their stuff each year to win their 'academy award' here. Beware of eyeballs falling out!

Flashguru
- you'll find everything in Flashsites that's worth being mentioned right here. Get a box close to a backbone ;-)) go siteseeing and have fun.

yugop always shows flash at it's very best.
i don't know if the old version can still be found, it was hard to believe this was flash 4.
however, the new version stands up to the high expectations one has when regularily dropping by.

• Walking Together What Remains (a poem)
• TypoSpace
• Ray of Light