[amadiver]

I'm a professional Flash dev, but I spend my after work time on CoffeeScript/JavaScript/HTML5/Node/MongoDB (♥ ECMAScript). There's definitely still a use-case for Flash. It's still faster for some stuff I do (in Webkit{Safari,Chrome}). ActionScript has some nice additions to ES that were unfortunately left out of JS going forward (classes/packages/implicit getters+setters, type enhancement). Adobe's doing some really interesting stuff with 3d+gpu http://labs.adobe.com/technologies/flash/molehill/

I don't blame people for statements like "Once such a WYSIWYG app exists, there'd be no excuses left to use Flash online". They're authoritative and are tapped into the zeitgeist. As an Interactive Dev, though, I hope my opinion can count as some kind of counterweight to what I sometimes view as polemic.

[podperson]

If I may wax polemic...

Here's Adobe/Macromedia's fairly recent tech history:

* Use AS2, so much better than AS

* Use AS3, so much better than AS2 and soon to be the ES Standard. Whoops!

* Use our new 3D API, it sucks less than our non-3D API you hacked to kind of do 3D.

* Use our new, new unreleased incompatible 3D API, it sucks much less than our existing 3D API.

* Please continue to use our runtime because it has three virtual machines for three different languages, a 15 year old graphics engine we still haven't really modified to take advantage of modern GPUs, and an IDE that's a cruel joke.

And that's just Flash. They also spent two years hyping Atmosphere before abandoning it. They added a 3D API to Director, then ripped it out, then added another one, then basically left it without an update for five years.

So, basically, yes there's a use-case for Flash. Animated / interactive ads that run on a lot of platforms and custom video players that let you implement ads overlaid on video. Oh, and some casual games where you can ignore the fact Flash doesn't like to handle dynamic screen refresh rates.

Any new functionality Adobe bolts onto its carcass needs to be avoided like the plague.

That's really just about it.

[joelhooks]

There is a huge market for Flash applications for enterprise. Do you mean Flash Pro when you refer to the IDE? IntelliJ IDEA is killer. FDT and Flash Develop are also excellent. 3d is virtually useless outside of games and those interactive banner ads you hate. The runtime was why I settled on Flash. I'd rather take it, with its warts, than wrestle browsers like it was 1999.

There are lots of things to gripe about with the Flash platform. Adobe doesn't seem to "get" what it means to support developers. They can't figure out how to run a proper open-source project, but I do them some credit for trying. We suffer from a "banner ad" culture that favors getting things done quickly without regard for craftsmanship at the code level. AS3 allowed developers to start improving this, and there are always notable exceptions to this generalization. This, to me, has been detrimental for the overall public perception of the Flash Platform.

[Samuel_Michon]

"There is a huge market for Flash applications for enterprise."

Java and Internet Explorer are also huge in the enterprise. IMO, I'm blessed not having to work in enterprise. I simply wouldn't have the patience.