rayzoredge 2 Report post Posted October 19, 2007 What do you guys think of the new plugin by Microsoft that's supposed to bring productivity, interactivity, video, animation, and user interfaces to the Internet?I just did a test run on the work comp and so far, it looks like an attempt for eye candy. It LOOKS cool, but I don't see the potential for it making the Internet experience any better. The Silverlight "experience" that I've had so far has been bogged down performance-wise but rather impressive.Check it out for yourself by going to the Microsoft Silverlight site. I don't see anything else out there that really gives an idea of what it's like.What's good about it is the cross-platform compatibility. In an interview about the project, the Microsoft rep showed how the whole thing worked on a Macintosh running Firefox and Safari... quite an unexpected jump for this company, in my opinion. I see how this would be very useful in merging together the use of different operating systems, computers, and even browsers to achieve the accomplishments of projects. In the demonstration, they show the use of a video editing utility (Video Expressions?) also founded by Microsoft that is compatible with the functionality of Silverlight, and the beauty of it is that a Mac user and a PC user can utilize Video Expressions to edit, view, put up, and share the same project (as Video Expressions supports Quicktime and can encode and decode between formats). There's even Linux support!I'm really not sure what to make of the whole Silverlight project, but the cross-platform compatibility is probably a great step towards praise for Microsoft and a good argument against the past monopolization with the company's previous programs. Maybe Microsoft is turning a new leaf and might not be so bad in the future after all. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Will.Allison 0 Report post Posted October 20, 2007 Its alright. I havent seen much improvement except it looks a little bit better.But Microsoft is actually making their software compatible with other OS's???? Hell must have froze over. This is a very good sign for Microsoft. If they continue this way, they might become less of the worst company ever. To sum up, not big improvement in software but a big step for Microsoft. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
truefusion 3 Report post Posted October 20, 2007 Define "support." Linux is missing from their downloads section. The only reference to Linux support is the one quoted in the FAQs page. Novell, the distributor and maintainer of SuSE, the ones that made a deal with Microsoft during Microsoft's patent threat (which was later called off by Microsoft), seem to be the only ones that will be able to install this program, only it'll be called "Moonlight." Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
OneMinute 0 Report post Posted October 20, 2007 I have had used Silverlight before. I just downloaded it for one simple reason: to try out the beta for microsoft mashups community. Silverlight, i have not much idea on what it is though, it was just a requirement for me in order to play with the beta services. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
varalu 0 Report post Posted October 20, 2007 I was using it for some time... actually tried i can say...but the support is not that good. Some of the sites do not get loaded at all...Waiting for something great to happen to them... Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
ZaM0 0 Report post Posted November 24, 2007 It's a good technology to show movies, music, dedicated applications, etc, etc... But I don't think it could grow as much as the Flash, Shockwave, and the other products of Adobe.But Microsoft always are making miracles, so we are going to expect everything Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
laexter 0 Report post Posted November 24, 2007 The intention that Microsoft will "support" other operating systems changes nothing. It is a market strategy and you have fallen for that - see how many people say "hey MS has changed so I will probably look into their products"?I believe that Microsoft will gradually remove support for other OSes from time to time (when Silverlight gained monopoly), and force other OS vendors to develop and maintain their own Silverlight player of some sort. Or they will publish an ISO standard for Silverlight and extend it with proprietary APIs like crazy so that free implementations are hard to catch up, just like the .NET Framework.And it just takes another Flash version to beat all that thing... Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
hitmanblood 0 Report post Posted November 24, 2007 Well I think good things about silverlight. It seems nice to me I can say that I am following what is happening since beginning and silverlight is developing into nice product and if microsoft continues to develop it in such manner it might even become larger then flash and it shold because to me it looks mich more better. Only thing is that there are not so much tools for developing in silverlight but the thing is that they are still in the beginning. And I'd like to point out that MIcrosoft will not remove support for other operating system because of simple thing and that is reachability they want to reach to as many customers as they can. That is the only reason why are they developing it for other operating system. And I think that they will not push it out that is they will not stop giving support to them. Also I would like to point out that silverlight right now has many more advantages then flash itself. And the biggest advantage is that you don't need that is you don't have any need to learn new language (programming language) to program silverlight applications, vice verse with flash where you have to learn action script adn you cannot use this anywhere else. This gives silverligh huge advantage over flash. And this will only show in the future. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
laexter 0 Report post Posted November 24, 2007 Now that you said it... Probably you are correct. But I am still concerned about cross-platform viewer, because MS will obviously take Windows as its top priority. But to think about it, even current Linux Flash player is not as good as the Windows one...Seriously, we need an open source alternative for this kind of thing. Mozilla libraries (XUL etc) has the potential, and it does not introduce new programming languages (uses XML and Javascript) but a big library to learn... Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
etycto 0 Report post Posted November 24, 2007 i like silver light it was fine and yah i saw how there was more going on towards eye candy than new features. but i love the way the full screen mode worked. i noticed that the silver light movies take a while to load especial the microsoft silver light website but the whole site uses silverlight, i understand. The intention that Microsoft will "support" other operating systems changes nothing. It is a market strategy and you have fallen for that - see how many people say "hey MS has changed so I will probably look into their products"?I believe that Microsoft will gradually remove support for other OSes from time to time (when Silverlight gained monopoly), and force other OS vendors to develop and maintain their own Silverlight player of some sort. Or they will publish an ISO standard for Silverlight and extend it with proprietary APIs like crazy so that free implementations are hard to catch up, just like the .NET Framework.And it just takes another Flash version to beat all that thing...why is it always wrong for microsoft to try a new market and not other companies, just like microsoft had the highest sellings for windows apples had the same thing with the ipod how come no one ever called monpoly on them. man you're just being peranoid i cant say that thats not going to happen but i cant say it is going to happen. give them a chance cause i'm kinda tired of adobe(i love the name) ruling over the flash industry, as you may calle it, and selling there products for like $100 now they have real compitition. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
ironchicken 0 Report post Posted January 21, 2008 (edited) It's a good technology, and it sure beats Adobe Flex. The only problem I see is Linux compatibility.Silverlight (aka Windows Presentation Foundation/Everywhere) is coded with JavaScript and XAML, while Adobe Flex applications are coded through ActionScript, so the coding is pretty much the same.I think that Silverlight will win the "war", but I don't know... Edited January 21, 2008 by ironchicken (see edit history) Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
tricky77puzzle 0 Report post Posted March 20, 2008 So finally Microsoft has decided to make an alternative to Flash. Oh, goody.I've installed it so that I can view all pages on the Internet. I don't really like the concept (considering they could have just used Flash) but I'll still use it if I have to. After all, it's not like about 90% of the web uses it... like it does Flash. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
