I discovered silverlight through visifire: http://www.visifire.com/ As a graphing tool (about all I'm interested in with the tool) it is neat. The big problem is getting users to download it. The same problem that Flash had originally and now it's on every machine... but do you want to at the front of the line taking people through that?
Like anything Silverlight will take its time to catch on and be installed on enough machines for some people to take a risk in using it, however its still beta. Silverlight 1 used Javascript as the programming model, as has already been mentioned Silverlight 2 uses a cut down version of the .NET Framework. Microsoft will be releasing it for Windows and Apple Mac, and a Linux version called Moonlight (based on Mono) is also being done by a 3rd party and is officially endorsed by Microsoft so no issues there, and may end up being better supported on Linux than Flash is. Also being .NET framework based there should be no problems with 32/64bit which is something Flash has issues with, there is no Flash player for 64bit windows and getting it working on 64bit Linux is adventure. I'm willing to put money that it will be a required Windows update when its properly released. I'm not American so I'm going on what I read but I think that MSNBC used Silverlight for doing their Olympics video streaming, so quite a few people I imagine installed it then. Jen
Well as long as Silverlight is free to install, it is pretty harmless to tryout - i.e costless......who knows, maybe it really takes off in the furture
Damn, you beat me to it. It was noticeable that NBC offered free live Olympics coverage... but only only if you downloaded Silverlight... I would imagine that Microsoft put a lot of money on the table for that... I can't imagine that it will ever give Flash a run in popularity though...
It can make sense to do video streaming in Windows Media, you can generate a multi bitrate stream, and the software will pick the best stream, not only that it can change mid stream if your bandwidth isnt up to it. Silverlight streaming is based on Windows Media so (as far as I know I've not done Silverlight streaming, all the things we do at work are Flash based) should be able to do the same. Does Microsoft still own part of NBC (Hense MSNBC)? Jen
I'm sure SilverLight is an excellent tool, but I'm sure embedding a Silverlight object on your page with detract viewers. Many people like myself look down upon Flash or other annoying objects. In addition, nobody will want to download it to view your site. Maybe in a few years Silverlight will be a more practical tool.
I have it... and so do many of my friends... I prediction is it will surely go a long way as microsoft is doing everything possible to promote it!
Promotion is not the issue here, just think that in the future will become integrated into Windows 7 (or Vista SP2) or a required update. With more than 90% of market share, promotion is really not a issue. They just need to get it into a stable and mature version. Already (in beta) it's better than Flash (better as in development easyness). Remember the discussions about .NET Framework when they released the first version? Nobody installed it, nobody cared... and now it's installed on almost every computer and it comes as a default with Vista/2008 Server.
Looks like the Democratic National Congress is also going to be streamed in Silverlight. If your in the US thats two major events that have been streamed in Silverlight now, ok as with the Olympics the amount of traffic and views is still not going to be particularlly signifiant compared to the amount of Flash streaming (IE YouTube), but it shows that people are willing to go with Silverlight. Interestingly though it says Linux is not supported, looks like Moonlight is not ready for this yet? Jen
Microsoft Silverlight is a programmable web browser plugin that enables features such as animation, vector graphics and audio-video playback that characterize rich internet applications. Silverlight competes with products such as Adobe Flash, Adobe Flex, Adobe Shockwave, Gears (software), and JavaFX. Version 2.0, now in beta-testing, brings improved interactivity and support for .NET languages and development tools. Here..Hope I answered your question
I'd say it's the other way around. I suspect there are 100000 x the amount of games, animation, video streaming and interactivity currently constructed in flash than there are in silverlight (perhaps a dozen examples I've seen that do nothing that can't be done in flash) The reason that 2 major events in America have been streamed using silverlight is down to microsoft paying them to do it and providing infrastructure, not any technical reason. It's an interesting technology if you already have a microsoft-centric skill set, and you don't mind a high bounce rate for your content.
It's all about MS trying to get into the Flash marketplace. It will be several years until they manage to pass Flash, if ever.
no, silverlight is designed for .net developers, so that they don't need to know other languages or frameworks or ide's... they can just use .net that's the whole idea behind silverlight