Flash, and its use, has certainly caused some controversy since its conception. Initial concerns ranged over its use in web pages and (due file size) the worry that it might slow down pages as it loads.
However, with the advent of broadband and faster connection speeds this concern has been largely abated, giving designers a wider scope to embed Flash graphics into web pages.
This isn't to say that Flash-based graphics and animations don't need a small amount of time to 'load'. However, personally, we feel that the occasional amount of time and patience required for Flash download (usually barely a few seconds) is compensated by the dynamism and visual effects that Flash gives to a webpage.

Flash isn't just used for animations and web-applications. It can also be used to develop hard-drive installable software and presentations for use with projectors and interactive whiteboards. We've developed numerous software modules and flash presentations. We've also created suites of software training demos - dynamically showing how software works - by using screen capture and animation.
Here are some examples:

Royal Borough of Windsor and Maidenhead - 'Raising Achievement' Resource - Flash-based software for a 'Visual Stimuli' project. The interface also needed to take the form of standalone software accessible from a hard-drive and distributed via CD as an executable program. Click here for screenshots.