There has been quite a bit of discussion in regards to whether or not Silverlight is a Flash killer etc.
I believe PiperJaffray Analysts said it best with this:
Microsoft's Silverlight: Loud Bark, Soft Bite?
KEY POINTS:
• Microsoft recently unveiled Silverlight, a supposed Flash rival.
• We expect Silverlight's impact on Adobe's business to be immaterial.
• Flash is the web's fastest growing video distribution platform on the web,
and the developer community is committed to Flash as a standard for RIAs.
• Adobe is pushing ahead in online video with Apollo and Adobe Media Player.
What Is Silverlight? Microsoft recently demonstrated its new Silverlight
technology, a web development tool for rich Internet applications (RIAs) and a
supposed rival to Adobe's Flash and Flex. The Silverlight runtime is available as a
cross-platform beta plug-in available for web browsers including Internet Explorer,
Firefox, and Safari; Microsoft expects to have a final release by mid-2007.
Silverlight's Impact Will Be Immaterial. We believe Silverlight's impact on Flash
and Flex will be minimal for three reasons: 1) Flash video technology is the fastest
growing video distribution platform on the Internet; Adobe has a growing lead in
the RIA space. YouTube, for example, which uses Flash technology, garnered an
audience of ~45m unique users in March (up from ~13m a year ago); 2) Microsoft
plays catch-up with Adobe, Adobe continues to innovate. On 4/15 we attended the
NAB tradeshow where Adobe focused on its plans for online Video. Specifically,
the company introduced Adobe Media Player, the next leg in Adobe's video
strategy, which builds on the success of Flash and implements the new Apollo
technology; and 3) Web developers are loyal to Adobe (and ex-Macromedia)
products, and now that CS3 integrates Adobe's design products with the
Macromedia tools, we expect the Flash developer base will become even more
deeply entrenched in Flash and Flex as standards for RIAs. In early 2006, Adobe
had announced that there were more than 2 million Flash developers.
I really think silverlight
I really think silverlight is a flash Killer ...
Tang: You're welcome to that
Tang:
You're welcome to that opinion but once again this is just Microsoft being way late to the party.
1. Wow, you actually updated
1. Wow, you actually updated your blog. Hope springs eternal, Tony.
2. I have to agree. Unless MS gives away Silverlight to a Youtube with contractual nirvana-level SLAs in perpetuity, there is little chance of Silverlight staying pretty dim.
Yes youtube is all flash,
Yes youtube is all flash, but silverlight costs less to stream video and it's capable of supporting HD.
I'm a fan of Silverlight
Not that I don't like flash but it's really hard to learn and use.
Flash is Still Dominating
Microsoft Silverlight is too complicated and they are still in beta. Flash is still growing and it is hard for Microsoft to catch up. I hated when a big company try to control everything.
good article very thanks
good article
very thanks
silverlight vs flash
Silverlight however is SEO friendly, which Flash does not look like being any time soon.
if you search Google.com for " SEO Demo " you'll see on the first page a Silverlight SEO Demo page by xmldocs.net
granted the domain and page does have some half decent links pointed at it too and is only ranking for whats in its titles, which flash can also do, but its early days yet.
i think it could end up getting used fairly widely because of this.
I have installed silverlight
I have installed silverlight on my blogs many time and then uninstalled it immediately. On the other hand I have never uninstalled Flash player till I have installed it. I think it is almost impossible for silverlight to beat Flash. To be very true, I think Microsoft is producing some peace of shits in these days.
Flash will beat Silverlight
I believe Flash will beat Silverlight. Reason is simple. For any plugin to get any foothold, there must be a critical mass of websites using it. But site owners are unwilling to use Silverlight because it is not installed in all browsers in the first place. So its a chicken and egg issue.
On the other hand, other RIA frameworks like Google Web Toolkit might stand a better chance. It uses open standards like HTML and javascript. Does not require browser plugin. More importantly, it looks just as nice as other RIA frameworks, is more compact and runs faster. You can see an example in this Singapore Property site.
Flash Killer
I don't think Silverlight is a Flash killer, but I do see it being a better alternative for RIA applications.
Flash is good at making eye candy, but action scripting is extremely weak compared to the .NET framework support that is in Silverlight. Many large copanies have made a huge invesment in Microsoft .NET and for good reason. For rapid application development, ease of learning, upgradeability, and available support, there is not many better alternatives.
Most serious graphic designers will never use Silverlight to develop anything, this I conceede. Most software engineers are going to end up learning Silverlight over Flash because it is easier and cheaper.