Could someone explain the "Flash" situation?

[smhardesty]

I kind of hate to be so dumb about something like this, but I'm just not following what all is going on with Flash for Linux. As I do understand, Adobe/Macromedia is no longer supporting or developing Flash for Linux. Somebody please correct me if I'm wrong. But I see regular updates coming as I do my software updates. But then I also see different attempts at other third party alternatives. So, what's the story? Should I be using Flash or not. Is there an alternative I should definitely be using?

Any help on this will be greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance.