I'm new to flash, new to this community so I'm not here to start a pooping contest. However, as a person who has been doing large corporate sites for years, I am somewhat shocked at the lack of understanding (by flash web designers) of the wants and needs of the B2B business community.

I have browsed the archives looking for examples of good corporate sites that utilize flash. I haven't found any. As an example of a design that lacks understanding of the business sector I'll use one I just viewed:
http://www.bzeeness.com.

I'm on cable and I usually get my full 2meg bandwidth. But even with that speed, this site takes about 30 seconds to load a 15 second flash sequence, then takes another loading pause to get the main page/menu. I can't even -IMAGINE- how long this would take using a 56k modem.

Now, I'm not picking on this site or designer... it's only used as a good example, OK? However, in my experience, designs such as this don't even begin to address the needs and desires of the B2B community or even the business-to-end consumer sector for that matter.

In both the B2B and B-to-end consumer sectors, users want SPEED.

I once designed a corporate site that utilized javascript OnMouseOver's with a few small graphics. When linking to the site, it -immediately- started to appear in the browser and (underneath the surface) all graphics were loaded in 22 seconds, and this using a 56k modem! NONETHELESS, their customers complained about "wasting their time."

In the B2B sector, the viewer of a site is usually an owner or manager of another business looking for a new vendor, product, etc. THEY'RE BUSY PEOPLE, people! They -don't- have time to waste, nor -desire- to waste. And if you -DO- waste their time, guess what??? They'll simply click off and go elsewhere. For that matter, the same is true with end consumers whose intent is to purchase products and services. Yes, entertainment-seeking users will wait for animations and such. But the business or consumer sector user is a completely different animal.

Didn't you ever wonder why on mega-giants such as Amazon, Ebay, Ubid, and others you -never- see "loading flash" pauses. And when they -do- utilize flash, it't usually for very small graphics, text banners, etc? That's because the design teams of those sites -understand- their target audiences.

I'm not impressed with the sites of web-design or marketing companies, either. To be sure, from my point of view some of the flash items I have seen are incredible. However, if I were a BUSINESS OWNER looking for a web design firm, the very first thought that came across my mind would be: "WOW! That's pretty and very imaginative, but we certainly don't want that slow loading crap on -OUR- site!" Then I would go elsewhere.

Yes, I understand the point of this site and the usefullness of flash on corporate sites. But loading horribly large graphic/movie sequences? Forcing unwanted music on viewers? Creating menu/navigation systems that are not -clearly- easy to understand? Do flash designers -really- understand the business sector? From what I have seen so far, not much.