Ported this guy from Flash (http://wonderfl.net/c/7au5 ) to JavaScript. Microsoft is really missing out with WebGL support, but I know why people are saying that plugins are dying...
I'm pretty impressed that in Chrome, the WebGL version has a considerably better framerate than the Flash version.
Same in Firefox. The Flash version is stuttery, the WebGL one is smooth.
That's because the WebGL version is using your GPU and the Flash version isn't. The Flash version is done through the 2D drawing API which is equivalent to HTML5 canvas (i.e. CPU bound). So, in that respect, the Flash version is actually doing a pretty amazing job.
Interestingly, my Firefox (13.0 on Ubuntu 11.04) consistently freezes for any WebGL example. The CPU load will just go full whack and nothing is every displayed. Eventually, I have to kill the process and restart the browser. Does anyone experience the same effect?