Correct, nobody made the design decision to disable the back button - they did it in complete, oblivious disregard.
I'm well aware of what you state and the entire point of my statements is that those decisions were wrong.
The solution I would have preferred to those issues you describe is actually not that at all. It's to make simple, usable sites like the one we are currently on.
As far as what you're saying about intent, i am not so sure that adobe never intended or encouraged flash to be used to make whole websites. I suppose one could research that, but it's beside any point i was making.
> The solution I would have preferred .. to make simple, usable sites like the one we are currently on
Neat, but many companies in 2004 wanted sites that couldn't be made out of styled text - minigames, product configurators, branded media experiences or whatever - and they wanted interactivity more than they wanted the back button to work. If you think they were wrong to do so that's fine, but it hasn't got much to do with Flash.
> I suppose one could research that, but it's beside any point i was making.
Its part of the point I was making - that Flash was originally a technology for inserting interactive animations into web pages, and all the significant usability concerns arose from people using it for more than that, which they did because the alternatives were so lacking. (Of course this put pressure on the alternatives to improve, which is what TFA is all about.)
I'm well aware of what you state and the entire point of my statements is that those decisions were wrong.
The solution I would have preferred to those issues you describe is actually not that at all. It's to make simple, usable sites like the one we are currently on.
As far as what you're saying about intent, i am not so sure that adobe never intended or encouraged flash to be used to make whole websites. I suppose one could research that, but it's beside any point i was making.