The core ideas of Flash remain unparalleled even now.

- Vector drawing and rendering for extremely fast performance and file size

- Visual authoring tool that invited creative, non-technical people to the party

- Deep support for managing state changes over time

- Gradual ramp of complexity that balanced ease of entry without overly constraining expertise

Were most Flash apps slow and buggy? Yes

Did Flex have tons of bloat and memory leaks? Yes

Did Flash create a cambrian explosion of creative and fun projects that inspired a generation of young people? Yes