5 Good reasons why Flash is here to stay (and most involve Google).

1. YouTube.com : Even though youtube.com added some HTML 5 video support, it’s still Flash that makes youtube.com tick. Embedding, full-screen video, standard codecs, interactive elements, variable streams,  protected streams, HTTP streaming, web cam and microphone support, etc. etc. etc.  are all supported by Flash, but HTML 5 has a long way to go before it can catch-up (if it ever can).  Youtube.com simply can’t give-up Flash for HTML 5, because they would give-up many of the features their users rely on right now.

2. Built-in To Chome:  Google recently released a version of their awesome Chrome web browser with a BUILT-IN version of Flash 10.1  They did this to make sure that Chrome is always the most performant and secure browser when it comes to Flash.  At the same time, Chrome is also, hands-down, the best browser for HTML 5 Canvas support, surpassing Safari and it’s faked (Safari-only) HTML 5 demos from a few weeks ago

3. Android:  Android sales are booming, and the new Android supports Flash 10.1 out of the box.  HTC just announced a 33% sales increase year over year of Android phones.  Vision Mobile just released a report that shows developer “mindshare” gravitating towards Android in 2010.

4. Google Pac-Man:  If anything, The Google Pac-Man stunt from showed us one of the great deficiencies in HTML 5: Sound Support.   Sure, there is an <audio> tag, but it has not been implemented the same away across all browsers.  The result was that Google resorted to using Flash for the sound portion of their game.  Flash has always had great sound support, and it looks like it still leads the pack in RIA web browser development.

5. Google TV:  Google’s TV is not Apple TV.  Google TV is a standard that is built-in to multiple devices.  It’s kind of like how Netflix exists on nearly every platform now.  Google TV supports Flash, and it will have an app API and a store for applications, much like Android (in fact JUST LIKE Android).    Google TV should become a standard feature on most new TVs, Blue-Ray Players and even consoles by next year, and with it, Flash 10.1 support to millions of new users.

Bonus: . Games.  Yes, still games.  Flash games. 1000’s and 1000’s of them.  All free to play on the web.  As my 7 year old so succinctly told me this weekend: “Daddy, all the games I like to play are in Flash, even Webkins and notepadgames.com”.  Yes honey, they are, and as far as I can tell, they will be that way for a long time to come”