Everyone is debating here as if Google's decision to promote WebM was static. That's not the case. This is step 1 in a process that could rid the world of Flash

Everyone is debating here as if Google's decision to promote WebM was static. That's not the case. This is step 1 in a process that could rid the world of Flash. We need: 1 - Google to publicly put out a strong message (has already happened) 2 - iOS to support WebM (yet to happen) 3 - IE, and others to support WebM. MS has pledged support in IE 9; Safari will follow iOS. Firefox will. 4 - YouTube to gradually switch content from Flash to WebM. Maybe HD content is only going to be available in WebM for starters. Google can do a gradual switch over a course of 5 years or something. So: Yey, Google! Even big evil companies can get it right sometimes. Note also that Google, as the owner of YouTube, can kind of strong-arm everyone into supporting WebM. And by everyone I mean Apple which has a traditionally high resistance to any technology it doesn't control (or at least has a say in).