title: How can HTML5 "replace" Flash?
body: <p>A topic of debate that's seen a resurgence since the unveiling of the iPad is the issue of Flash versus HTML5.  There are those that suggest that HTML5 will one day supplant/replace Adobe Flash.</p>
  
  <p><em>I do not develop software that runs in a browser,</em> so my (limited) understanding is:</p>
  
  <ul>
  <li>HTML is a pure-text markup language that is delivered over HTTP to a client browser.  The client browser interprets the markup and renders (with varying degrees of success) the page according to an standard specification.</li>
  <li>Adobe Flash is a propriety framework for working with audio, video, sound and raster/vector graphics.  It requires special authoring tools (a compiler perhaps?) and a custom player that's available as a plug-in to most common browsers.</li>
  </ul>
  
  <p>Could someone please explain (to this C/C++ developer) how it is possible <em>from a technical/coding point-of-view</em> that a text-based markup language (HTML5) could be considered a replacement to a multimedia framework (Flash)? </p>
  
  <p><strong><em>Please no opinionated arguments - just technical facts.</em></strong></p>