According to Forrester Research, HTML5 is far away from replacing RIA tools like Adobe Flash or Microsoft Silverlight. Some design flaws and immature tooling of HTML 5 apps makes using it across browsers and operating systems a little difficult. Apple, however, is using HTML5 on devices like iPad after replacing Flash, due to its ongoing feud with Adobe. Vendors like Google and Silverlight Builder Microsoft support HTML5.

Down the line, HTML5 and RIA platforms will be complementary technologies and both of them would be needed by the enterprise development shops. The HTML5 programming model is going to be more productive. Developers who want to use HTML5 also need to know Cascading Style Sheets for styling applications, JavaScript for behavior applications, and SVG for vector operations, according to Forrester Research.