I despise it.
Being a Linux user for a while now, there have been very few instances when I haven’t cursed Flash for what it is. An abomination on the web. I have not investigated whom exactly to blame here – the list of shared objects in `ldd /usr/lib/flashplayer-mozilla/libflashplayer.so` or the actual shit that’s in libflashplayer.so or the browser’s interface with this blob.
Awesome Web 2.0(tm) sites such as slideshare use it and trying to view a presentation fullscreen is more painful than watching your laptop die due to overheating. I’ve given up on watching youtube on the browser too. These days I wait for the video content to load into /tmp and play Flash* file with dear old mplayer. Such is life. Can’t wait to get my copy of Windows 7 license now.
Yes, I’m beating a dead horse here but I post this at the backdrop of the news of Mr. Jobs having announced that the iPad(sic) isn’t going to have Flash on it. I don’t know if I’m ever going to use this piece of locked hardware ever – maybe it’s useful in the hospitals – but the “no-flash” stance makes me happy.
I sincerely hope that HTML5 and related bling really does take off and take Flash off of my laptop.