Silverlight
Attempting to access a video clip recently, I was stopped by instructions to "install Silverlight."
As this was a first, it seems it may finally be time to pay attention to Microsoft's run at Adobe's ubiquitous Flash/Flex/Shockwave suite of products.
If telling you it's a Flash-like product doesn't make it clear, Microsoft explains that Silverlight is "a cross-browser, cross-platform, and cross-device plug-in for delivering the next generation of .NET based media experiences and rich interactive applications for the Web. "
That is to say, Silverlight will play animated and video segments via your browser, as Flash has been doing for years.
A early criticism of Silverlight from developers is that it's initial offering does not support Linux.
And where Flash Video changed the way we look at video over the web, Silverlight "will (naturally) be using the WMV and Silverlight will add to the use of the WMV file format. Using the WMV video format essentially makes Silverlight useless for the vast majority of video websites such as YouTube. It cannot play .avi and .mov file." The "naturally" refers to the fact that WMV is the Windows media file format.
In fact, however, the main criticisms of Silverlight are offered by developers, not users. Developers are annoyed that Silverlight is not ecumenical in its use of file formats, accessibility features, audio processing, and so forth - making it a more restrictive and difficult product to use.
Users - you and me? We won't notice much difference, other than sooner or later you will be asked to install Silverlight in order to experience some rich media. Perhaps Microsoft will make it harder to install Flash for IE. And with two products competing in the rich media space, perhaps we'll see more features at a quicker pace.
Otherwise, the excitement will remain firmly in the camp of the developers.
As this was a first, it seems it may finally be time to pay attention to Microsoft's run at Adobe's ubiquitous Flash/Flex/Shockwave suite of products.
If telling you it's a Flash-like product doesn't make it clear, Microsoft explains that Silverlight is "a cross-browser, cross-platform, and cross-device plug-in for delivering the next generation of .NET based media experiences and rich interactive applications for the Web. "
That is to say, Silverlight will play animated and video segments via your browser, as Flash has been doing for years.
A early criticism of Silverlight from developers is that it's initial offering does not support Linux.
And where Flash Video changed the way we look at video over the web, Silverlight "will (naturally) be using the WMV and Silverlight will add to the use of the WMV file format. Using the WMV video format essentially makes Silverlight useless for the vast majority of video websites such as YouTube. It cannot play .avi and .mov file." The "naturally" refers to the fact that WMV is the Windows media file format.
In fact, however, the main criticisms of Silverlight are offered by developers, not users. Developers are annoyed that Silverlight is not ecumenical in its use of file formats, accessibility features, audio processing, and so forth - making it a more restrictive and difficult product to use.
Users - you and me? We won't notice much difference, other than sooner or later you will be asked to install Silverlight in order to experience some rich media. Perhaps Microsoft will make it harder to install Flash for IE. And with two products competing in the rich media space, perhaps we'll see more features at a quicker pace.
Otherwise, the excitement will remain firmly in the camp of the developers.
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