For the Safari users here, check out ClickToFlash:
clicktoflash - i use this on osx
I think there are places where using Flash really brings a lot to the table. Unfortunately, as mentioned, it’s way overused these days. Here’s hoping people start picking up on HTML5 + CSS3 + Javascript to meet these ends.
An interesting sidenote: Apple.com is Flash-free but makes extensive use of web standards to achieve its functionality.
I don’t mean to say Apple isn’t part of the Flash problem—they put out quite a lot of Flash ads—just that Apple.com is a good example of how people can attain quite a bit of functionality with established web standards.