HTML5: Could it kill Flash and Silverlight?

"The budding Web spec just might remove the need for proprietary rich Internet app add-ins".

HTML5, a groundbreaking upgrade to the prominent Web presentation specification, could become a game-changer in Web application development, one that might even make obsolete  such plug-in-based rich Internet application (RIA) technologies as Adobe Flash, Microsoft Silverlight, and Sun JavaFX.

 The World Wide Web Consortium's (W3C) HTML5 proposal is geared toward Web  applications, something not adequately addressed in previous incarnations of HTML, the W3C  acknowledges. In other words, HTML5 tackles the gap that Flash, Silverlight, and JavaFX are trying to fill. [..]

Read more (infoworld.com)

[..]Yet, another thing to point out is that Flash video is used for a lot of things beyond basic playback. Flash supports embedded cue points and alpha channels and is often used in ways beyond the traditional YouTube playback scenario. So while HTML 5 video looks promising, it is clearly way too early for people to be writing an eulogy for Flash video. Remember also that Flash video will continue to evolve as well.

Read more (theflashblog.com) 

Taste this
YouTube released an HTML 5 demo of its player quite a while ago and are now testing this on their site.