   ADO, ASP an Flash
  what are ADO and ASP?  What are they used for?  Also, does anybody know if there are alternatives and/or (cheaper) competitors to Flash? 
ActiveX Data Objects (ADO) start page.Overview of ADO.NETASP from A to Z.Introduction to ASP.NETThere are no direct competitors to Flash, in part because Macromedia released the SWF file specification some seven years ago. 