No, Google hasn't decided to abandon Flash.

A company that goes by the name of Neosmart Technologies has released a HTML5 viewer for YouTube videos.

Is this really the beginning of the end for Flash?

Hardly.

While a nice idea which I fully support, and reminiscent of Google's recent Chrome plugin for IE, it's by no means a solution to the problem of Flash ubiquity.

Consumers love convenience, and this viewer offers nothing that isn't already present in the Flash install that the average netizen already has.

This solution is really only something the free software and/or HTML5 purists will likely use on the rare occasion that they want to watch a YouTube video.

The real solution to the problem lies with Microsoft.

Until Microsoft abandons flogging their Silverlight dead horse, or IE's browser market share dwindles into insignificance, Microsoft will indirectly continue supporting 3rd party media plugins like Flash.