Why the web used to need Flash (and might not need it anymore)
Undoubtedly Flash put the web to another level. With Flash there was finally the ability to create content with user experience not dictated by a markup language (HTML) but freeform, whatever the user liked, whatever the best usability was, whatever the IA / designer / programmer thought was best. This made the web big, this made Flash big.
However, times have changed. Flash is no longer the only technology to achieve all this. HTML5 can do some of it, JavaScript can do some of it, other proprietary platform like the iPhone and iPad can do some of it.
We all agree that Apple keeping back a hole bunch of cool content from the users by not putting Flash on their devices. On one hand they are doing it for “evil” business interests. They want to push their own gaming platform and don’t want all online Flash games on the web to be playable on their device. On the other hand they have good reasons: The iPhone was not powerful enough to render and display demanding Flash content.
