Flash 8 = Awesomeness
Yes, it appears that the new release of Flash 8 will, in fact, be awesome. This is a proven fact, and I can provide the statistics to anybody who questions this.
Why is it going to be so awesome, you ask? Well, let's see. Filter effects like Drop Shadow, Bevel, Color Adjust, Glow, and Blur. Blend modes, like Multiply, Screen, and Overlay. Custom easing with a visual graph editor to adjust scale, rotation, and other properties. Alpha channels in video. Cue points in video that can trigger Actionscript events. Yeah. Lots of good stuff.
Look for it's release in mid-September.