Anecdotal or not, the only time my browser ever crashes (at least since Java applets stopped showing up) is immediately upon opening a page with streaming video. Whether it's Apple or Adobe at fault, I don't care, but it seems to be exclusively triggered by Flash content.
Are there many people here running OS X that don't have problems apparently caused by Flash?
Of course you don't care whose fault it is, you just want it fixed. That's why I pointed out that it's only in the best interest of consumers that the bugs get fixed.
It seems that neither Adobe nor Apple actually want to make a good experience for users, flash or otherwise, because independent of whose fault it is the problems are not getting addressed. I'm reminded of http://www.joelonsoftware.com/articles/APIWar.html, where Microsoft actually cared about the user experience enough to insert a massive kludge even though the bug wasn't their fault. And since the problems are not getting addressed, I'd be leery of using either Apple or Adobe products. Apple because they would rather destroy a product they don't like even though the users do, and Adobe because of the way they treat their products after release. Apple's defense is that they prefer the new and shiny vs the old and busted (which are subjective measurements). For years Apple was behind Flash, it was one of the reasons to use a Mac, at least for flash development. Apple was also behind Firewire for years, it was so much better than USB. Then all of a sudden it wasn't, much to the detriment of those people who had bought all that highend firewire hardware. Now, this usually ends up being good for the consumer, which is why Jobs has the reputation he does, and in Apple's defense, their standard MO of controlling the entire platform means they have to make the "hard" decisions about what they support, and it usually ends up being good all around, but the transition, when Jobs changes his mind, can be a real bitch.
Apple was the first computer manufacturer to adopt USB on a wide scale (for which they were ridiculed at the time). Firewire remains the better technology of the two, but it is accordingly more expensive to implement; Apple still supports it fully on their pro computers. I use plenty of "highend firewire hardware" on a daily basis with my brand new MBP without issue. What, exactly, are you referring to?
How quickly we (all) forget ( http://www.google.com/search?q=apple+removes+firewire ). I misspoke, firewire 400 _was_ removed from a number of devices, as part of the regular upgrade path/hardware refresh, because "USB 2.0 won the connectivity fight in the lower end of the market". Despite me not being specific enough, and that Apple _currently_ ships a number of devices with firewire support, the fact remains that Apple does make hardware decisions based on their perception of user-experience, what they want to support, and which direction they want the market to go in -- I'm not sure how anyone can disagree with that, as I'm sure everyone makes decisions on what they want to support (other than maybe IE6), sometimes leaving users and customers in the lurch who are used to, or have a vested interest, in doing things the old, or a certain, way.
much to the detriment of those people who had bought all that highend firewire hardware
What detriment? Apple only ships two models without FireWire, neither of which cater to the sort of person who owns a lot of high-end FireWire kit anyway.
Are there many people here running OS X that don't have problems apparently caused by Flash?