>this will just be used to run legacy Flash code

Wether flash stays dominant or not, this would still provide a way to run flash code without any proprietary plugin, and in any modern browser, so the interest is still big, from an user point of view

I invite you to switch your flash player off for a bit and see how many sites use it for all kinds of stuff.

It's a nuisance but it is so pervasive it's not even funny.

I already have, it is wonderful.

http://github.com/rentzsch/clicktoflash

I can get by without ads pretty fine.

(Though I still have the flash turned on for the occasional video or game.)

Actionscript 3 isn't that bad.

Compared to javascript though? (that's the point after all). I definitely prefer javascript to as3.

Compared to javascript, yes. True class-based inheritance, optional strict typing, getter setters, and methods and closures retain class scope. What's not to like? Null-reference errors?

as2 was sweet though. Object.watch and __resolve() were a lot of fun to work with.

You can use the Proxy object to do similar things to __resolve(), but it's slightly less flexible as you have to extend the class.

While no one uses Flash for the language, there are a lot of (non-developers) out there who use Flash (MX,CS4 or whatever it's called this week) to produce animation, etc - and we're still a long way of having a similar set of tools that produce 'browser native' content.

I'm intrigued as to how much Flash it does cover.

How is it not useful for people that need to be successful in an era when browsers aren't bridging those gaps themselves?

Because a user is going to get the same experience already with the latest Flash player, in any browser. In JavaScript, there are numerous differences, ranging from the subtle to the not-so-subtle (do they even have canvas?) "Standards" aren't worth anything if they aren't, you know, standard.

I think you're actually agreeing with me here. I am saying that this project Gordon has appeal for folks that may want to do something like display a SWF in iPhone Safari.

> ranging from the subtle to the not-so-subtle (do they even have canvas?)

That's the beauty of this thing. It works with svg -> supported by all browsers (with the obvious exception of IE, although I think it shouldn't be too hard to change it to support VML).