Flash is ok... but kind of annoying...
What about NSV? Winamp proprietary format?
IMO - this, the P-word is the the ultimate swear-word of the Internet & standardization.
I have absolutely no problems with Winamp - but - unless the format is either completely open / GPL, OR,
patented for the sole purpose of making it freely usable (link is old, but it shows my point) - and forcing it to be such ... it's of no interest to anyone.
Yup. I've disliked flash for a long time. But then it went into adobes hands.... uuuugh~!
I hate that I need it installed ... thank god for the "flashblock" FF plugin!
I hope that <video> will help destroy flash 
Uh-oh.
I hope <video> doesn't get raped like Flash did. Once upon a time, Flash wasn't annoying.
Now it's the web's asshole. I'm just thinking - way back when, we only had blink tags and little spinning IE logos . . . . now we've got these Indian-made canned sites with the spinning flash backgrounds, blinking lights, that annoying flapping page-corner, popping images flying out of the flash element ... gah.
And worst of the worst - those damn talking site-host (sitepal & little animated people giving you a lecture) features that the enterprising rednecks love oh-so-much. UGH.