Adobe Configurator and deprecated Flash-based panel support in Adobe CC products

Question

Does Configurator 4.0 (or Configurator 3) support the creation of HTML5-based panels?
I received the following email from Adobe: 
Photoshop CC, starting in the middle of 2014, will remove support for Flash-based extensions. All other Creative Cloud products have already marked Flash-based panel support as deprecated at this time, meaning no future enhancements or bug fixes will be coming for Flash-based extensions.
The current version of Photoshop CC already includes support for a new type of HTML5 based panel. We are currently working on a new version of Adobe Extension Builder designed specifically to support the creation of these HTML5 based panels.  You can download a free preview here: http://labs.adobe.com/technologies/extensionbuilder3/.
Details about developing HTML5 extensions for Photoshop as well as for other Creative Cloud products are available in the Extension Builder pre-release program here: https://adobeformscentral.com/?f=6V6IgvE0yLQQ7bgadxNXaw .   You can also join the Photoshop developers' prerelease program for details specific to Photoshop.  If you're interested, please let me know and I will get you setup.
Will the panels created by Configurator 4.0 work in PS CC after the middle of 2014 when support for Flash-based extensions is removed from Photoshop CC?  For that matter, will the panels created in Configurator 3.0 work in PS CC after the middle of 2014?

Answer 1

I've carefully read all the posts here and would like to give my feedback on the whole question. I'm a professional retoucher and a teacher as well, and during my professional carrer I've built dozens of panels.
I do really take advantage of boosting my productivity with any customized panel, as automation is something that adds speed, reliability and dramatically reduce errors during repetitive tasks. Therefore, I can't live without it.
Now, I  understand why Adobe wants to move towards HTML 5, but please give us the ability to keep our work at the same level of efficiency we currently have. Photoshop is not for amateurs, it's a professional software. And professionals must keep their productivity, for sure they can't afford any loss of it, especially in these times!
Moving from Flash to HTML 5  means rebuilding all the existing panels from scratch: how much this will cost to us in terms of time (and money) if we could have an HTML 5 version of Configurator? And how much, if we don't have a tool like Configurator at all? Three times, ten times as much? Maybe Adobe knows the answer, not me, I'm not a coder. But I'd like to know this answer.
Further, picture this: I've taught several classes for at least  five intercontinental companies on how to build actions and organize them into panels for improving their productivity. Every time the response was the same: BOOM!
They had a huge speed improvement in their daily workflows, and started to build dozens of panels by themselves for any possibile use. It was like opening a Pandora's box for them (their words).
Every one who attended my classes, have taught the same topic inside their company and the reaction was always the same. So now, in every company in which I've taught building panels and actions, there are hundreds of panels for many different uses, all over the world. Of course, as 100% of them were specifically built for internal use, they shared the panels among them, but not outside their company.
Many of them who are now mid-advanced users, have written to me asking how they could keep their panels working correctly in the next CC version of Photoshop. I have no solution for them, unless many of them become coders. That's a bad answer, I must admit, but no way out right now.
Their reply to me was very straight: "well, we won't upgrade any copy of Photoshop until we can keep our panels working correctly for sure. For us is much more important being productive and efficient than upgrading to the latest version, if this means to lower our performance, no doubt."
Adobe wanted to integrate all their softwares into the Creative Cloud. So far so good, I'm for it. But when you decide to integrate everything saying to the world that "it's for the sake of a better productivity", then you must really integrate them. Otherwise people will think that it was only a commercial move. So why we can't build panels for the applications inside Muse, for example? It was introduced to allow people to build  websites quickly and efficiently using HTML 5, taking care about the layout instead of investing too much time in coding.
Exactly what Configurator allowed to do. Focus on the result with minimal time cost, aka money cost.
World is running faster, therefore we need to work faster too. And without Configurator we won't. I can't disagree with all the people that won't upgrade Photoshop, if this means that they'll work slower because they can't use their panels carefully made by themselves. Photoshop is a tool for producing ideas and other nice stuff, like any software. The faster it is, the most people will like it, the better will sold. A simple truth. Think about what happened to Apple Finalcut ProX and how many users switched to Premiere. Photoshop has no competitors except new versions of itself.
And this does not apply only the CC users. Look at the bigger picture: how many users still using CS6 with all their fully working panels won't upgrade to CC if they know they'll reduce their productivity?
Think about the answer. Carefully.