Flash Plugins have NOTHING to do with this site design; and I KNOW that. But as sites move forward with new ideas, shouldn’t the programmers expand on the technology that is available?
Should the home entertainment industry have stopped at VHS because it was comfortable? Should we all raise up in protest of satellite radio? I don’t think so. At any rate, Javascript is not a step backwards. It is a lateral move if anything. As several others have pointed out, the old design used a TON of Javascript as well.