You're right, Flash wasn't 10 years ahead of its time. It's far more:
Tokyo Plastic's Drum Machine: http://www.albinoblacksheep.com/flash/drum
... from 2003 (or earlier?): http://board.flashkit.com/board/showthread.php?516504-rockst...
Tokyo Plastic's Drum Machine: http://www.albinoblacksheep.com/flash/drum
... from 2003 (or earlier?): http://board.flashkit.com/board/showthread.php?516504-rockst...
Here is Shumway playing back this fantastic animation:
http://www.areweflashyet.com/shumway/examples/inspector/insp...
In that animation, look how the black outlines against the grey clothing leaves a white blur. That's a fundamental flaw that's been with canvas since the beginning, and is a severe problem in the general assumptions of immediate mode rendering. It's especially terrible when doing tiled 2d, or polygons, where these transparent edge gaps stick out the worst.