With the advent of HTML5 many developers have raised questions about the future of flash. The big advantage HTML5 poses over Flash is it's native support in most modern browsers, where Flash requires the installation of a plugin. This may mean that HTML5 should run faster and be more efficient than an equivalent Flash application. With the emergence of other technologies such as the many JavaScript frameworks which work excellently with HTML5 as ActionScript does with Flash, we have already seen flash begin to lose some ground.

Flash for several years has made it easy to create rich media experiences, which previously were next to impossible to accomplish. With the rise of JavaScript frameworks such as prototype, and JQuery, and technologies such as AJAX flash has become less dominant in this arena. Where flash excels today is bringing video to the web. Sites like YouTube, Hulu and MetaCafe currently rely exclusively on the Flash player to deliver their content to end users. In recent times though more and more prominent web sites have started to turn to HTML5 as an experimental video and rich media content delivery tool. This is evident in particular at YouTube where they have released a beta version of an HTML5 video player. This leaves one wondering if eventually they see this technology ultimately replacing Flash. It was also announced earlier this year that Flash will not be supported on Apple's Iphone, Ipod, and Ipad devices. This has lead to a few companies developing there websites in HTML5 to maximize viewership potential.

HTML5 relies on other technologies in order to fully replicate what flash is currently doing, all of which like HTML5 are in their infancy. HTML5 is still a few years away from being an accepted standard across all browsers. Flash developers for the time being have a tried and tested platform, and an easier time when it comes to deployment environment. Many developers made the shift from HTML and JavaScript to Flash because of the appeal of a single environment. I believe only time will tell which Technology will prevail.