> 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?
Look at WebRTC for just one example. The better way to do this is not using someone else's website, though -- help decentralize the internet and use software on your own computer. > 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. JavaScript + Canvas > 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? There are things available - A quick internet search returns results. One such program that can convert Flash is FFmpeg. Others exist too. > 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. Flash isn't needed for websites. I rarely encounter sites that must depend on Flash. If I do I leave. If you encounter one you can do the same, possibly even writing to them and asking them to use internet standards. If someone wanted a nice & "flashy" website, the tools provided by HTML 5, CSS 3, and JavaScript provide all that's needed are are much more standardized than Flash ever was -- remember that the Flash specification is even incomplete, as the article says, so not only does the author of the site become dependent upon Adobe but they force the visitors of their site to be as well.
