Although each Browser vendor is slowly adding new (old?) HTML5'ish functionality to their products, they all seem to rowing in different directions, or at best focusing on totally different priorities. This is reminiscent of the early days when IE 6 added all kinds of neat functionality that was not compatible with any other browser on the planet.

Yes, I agree that Flash is a bit fat and given its complexity (from having to be ported to multiple platforms) can even be a bit buggy. But, until the Browser boys get their act together, FLASH is the best solution to implement consistent web based applications on multiple platforms.