There is no viable alternative to Flash right now for streaming live video, especially with the same market penetration.
Yes there is, it's called RTSP/RTP and it's well-supported by VLC and QuickTime (and by extension their browser plug-ins). http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rtsp
whoosh
You *can* write such code, but how long will it take you to build up equivalent APIs in a low-level language that these higher-level languages give you out of the box, taking into account the time needed to eliminate bugs? Here's a hint: it took those multiple companies' worth of advanced programmers over a decade to get to that level.
It's almost as if you exhibit a polar extreme case of Not Invented Here syndrome. Just because you *can* do something does not make it a good or practical solution to real-world problems.
don't forget the chance of identical twins...
What if I said "I have two children, one of whom is a boy that likes the number 1835736583. What's the probability that my other child is a boy?"
Ahaha brilliant!!
don't you mean in 4 years from now? 6*5 != 27...
HOLY MACRO!