A 4 way live voice chat with complicated moving graphics is something that Flash would be good for. I guess you might not consider these things "useless frills," but those are the kind of things I had in mind when I wrote that phrase. Maybe there is a place "in the future" for Flash, but for now, that place is not the same as information-based websites. Commercials, games, and other distractions in Flash are fine, but again we get back to what I consider "useless frills." I'm sure many people will disagree with that label, but it describes accurately how I feel about these things.
Perhaps my head is stuck in the sand, but I believe text is here to stay. I like it a lot. And putting text in Flash just doesn't work. That's what I was complaining about, and that's something you completely ignored (or missed). I thought the original question was about exacting textual information from an entirely Flash-based website, so that's the context for my reply. I might have misread the question, but even if I did, I still stand by my statements (with regard to text-based information).
Update: Also, I don't quite understand why you brought up the point that Perl will "fade into obscurity." Perhaps you were just making some random comments, but as part of your reply it makes no sense to me. But if you want me to reply to that too, then I disagree. I think Perl still is in a very good position for "ordinary" websites. Even if there eventually is a place for the revolutionary audio/visual Flash-based site, there will still be a place for the text-based site.
