File uploads were in HTML almost from the start :) And video was not no, but it was a tricky thing to figure out, not just from an implementation but also licensing point of view. RealMedia was another player that dabbled in this market.
I think the disconnect was more with designers. They wanted visual tools back in those days and had no time for CSS and JavaScript. Adobe/Macromedia gave them what they wanted and also entrenched their commercial position this way (which Adobe already had in the paper publishing market!). It took a long time for the graphical guys to come on board with the open toolchains.
Macromedia wasn't a bad company as such as they did make the excellent Dreamweaver which did promote open standards, but Adobe corrupted them badly.
The big thing Flash added to file uploads was resumability. Uploading a large video file with pure HTML features on the internet of 2006 tended to fail, and adding a Flash helper worked around that.
I think the disconnect was more with designers. They wanted visual tools back in those days and had no time for CSS and JavaScript. Adobe/Macromedia gave them what they wanted and also entrenched their commercial position this way (which Adobe already had in the paper publishing market!). It took a long time for the graphical guys to come on board with the open toolchains.
Macromedia wasn't a bad company as such as they did make the excellent Dreamweaver which did promote open standards, but Adobe corrupted them badly.