Why do so many people care about flash so much? All I ever use it for is for youtube (and luckily html5 in-browser video isn't far away for youtube), and if I have to for some stupid shops or stuff, where they used flash.

Other then that, I just keep away from it best I can. If you have friends in web design or other things, keep them from using flash. If your company wants to use it, protest. I'd say with flash it can only go two ways. Either it gets much better, or it dies.

Like it or not (and I don't), Flash is used on a large number of sites where some of us get information that we find useful or even valuable.

Example.If you want to know timetables for bus and cable car services in the Alpine valleys around Domodossola, you get them from http://www.vcoinbus.it . It can be very useful to know when you have to get down from the mountain, if you don't want to be stranded at the roadside in a remote and chilly valley. That site uses a Flash-based interactive map to call up timetables in pdf form. It is easy to use, even if you are a bit hazy about the place names, and it works well if you have a fast enough processor and browser with a late enough version of Flash.

The site used Flash 6 or 7 until 2008 (I think), when it was unnecessarily "upgraded" to Flash 9. There were no additional features: it was exactly the same site, except it was no longer usable with a Flash 7 plugin. I was very happy to get Flash 9 on MicroB so that I could use the site again.

This is just one story. I am sure many other users have their own. We do not use Flash for entertainment. We use it because that's the way that web designers supply the information we need to get on with our lives. "Just keep away" is not an option.