No Flash Plugin? Awesome!

So I started a new job at a company called ICSolutions about a week ago.  It’s an almost entirely Linux shop and it’s a flavor of Linux I’m not use to either (I’m generally a Ubuntu fan when Linux is involved).  Needless to say, there’s a learning curve with any OS.

Along with this learning curve came my inability to install the flash plug-in.  There were some issues with dependencies and libraries that I couldn’t download and, seeing as I didn’t have any impending need for it, I just didn’t load the plug-in.  Wow!  What a difference!

Without the Flash plug-in installed I’ve found that a HUGE number of sites that I visit regularly are loading MUCH faster.  I also see FAR fewer ads on the screen, probably a direct correlation, and my eyes is again being drawn to the content of a site rather than the dancing images of mortgage rate ads.  As a developer and secondarily a designer I LOVE this.  Content is king again.  It seems to me that the only thing I’m missing by not having flash installed is video streaming.  It’s a huge loss for sites I visit like CNN but its obvious gains are not having me rushing to install this plug-in on my work computer anytime soon.

Anyone have any similar experiences?