Capt Stable
I think we are saying the same thing.
The stall strips cause the inner wings to stall first (producing reduced or no lift), which ensures that the outer wings are still producing lift at the same time, increasing lateral stability, as you say.
Taking flaps does indeed lower the stall speed by increasing lift, but only across the inner sections (where the flaps are), so thinking spanwise, lateral stability is reduced.
Im only using the stall strips as a reverse analogy, not as a direct comparison.
My hypothesis is that taking flaps in gusting crosswinds is (a) good, because it reduces the tendency to float and thus drift in the flare, but (b) bad, as it reduces lateral stability and thus resistance to gusts.
On the other hand, once one gets lower and the wind speed often reduces, I'll take flaps for the erasons Whopity has already outlined.
Hope this makes sense now.