First, obviously, Flash in Proprietary and should be avoided.
However, there really is no apt Free-Software Alternative for all the functions of Flash.
The problem is that the Free Software Flash Replacements typically only view Flash as a tool for playing videos. While this is probably what Flash is best known for, it's by no means that only thing that Flash does. To truly replace Flash, someone needs to develop a tool that does everything Flash does; something Adobe does not make easy to do.
As far as I can tell, even if the video capabilities of HTML5 become the new norm, many sites are not going to instantly re-do all of their video players.
1: Cam to Cam chat. Flash has the ability to do online chatting with people; audio and video. I have yet to see a Flash Alternative that can also interact with these sites. Could something like this be built with Free Software Java?
2: Flash is used to make games and other interactive environments. How close is HTML5 to doing this? I've seen some rudimentary HTML5 games, but nothing yet that compares to most flash games.
3: Is there any way to make a plug in that can translate embedded flash videos into HTML5 video so that we can still access old videos that won't likely ever convert to HTML5? I that even possible?
4: Many sites use Flash to make their sites more interesting; such as animations, sound, and music. Can Freely available Java or anything do this as well? Also, what about sites already using Flash to do this? Similar to point three, much of the 'advanced' internet is built in Flash. It gets annoying visiting sites that are largely 'black out' without a Flash Player.
These are four things I hear almost nothing about when people talk about "replacing" Flash. With this and non-free Java, I feel that the Internet is largely getting away from the idea of freedom and free standards. Most of the sites I go to can not operate without Flash and Proprietary Java.
