Flash
Yesterday a professor told me that one of the nice things about Flash is that it gets around all the browser inconsistencies quite nicely. I was about to say, "yeah, either users have it or they don't," but I just stayed quiet. It's actually a good point when you don't know much about accessibility anyway.
I think that if Flash is to be used it should be done sparingly, perhaps to compliment a nice CSS XHTML site.
On my portfolio site for instance I had thought about making the clouds of the main header into a Flash animation, having them floating across the screen. But that's for another day.
I think this Prof. was talking about allowing students to make 100% Flash sites as an alternative to CSS/XHTML. =/
Regarding "browser inconsistencies" he's an idiot, but if he would have said "plugin inconsistencies" I would have to agree. For delivering rich media content (such as audio and video) there is little else that can compete with the large install-base of Flash.
Quicktime and Windows Media wars are old school boring news in my opinion. Flash is basically rich media accessibility. Granted, if you're not in a position to experience these types of media presentations then you're screwed anyway and your incompatible audience will suffer.
It's always nice to know that the education you're getting (and paying a pretty penny for) is entirely up to speed on things, isn't it?
The sad part is that Cornell is pretty far ahead compared to other universities.