When Microsoft unveiled their um…iPod killer a while back, I really thought that was the ultimate shark-jump. Apparently, though, they really enjoy enormous wasted duplications of effort. That’s why they came up with Silverlight. For those of you who don’t know, Silverlight is Microsoft’s new “Flash Killer”. You can go ahead and laugh now. No, really. Go ahead. I’ll wait.
No, seriously. Microsoft, seeing that there was something they didn’t completely dominate, thought it would be a good idea to reinvent Flash. You see, in Microsoft Fantasy LandTM Silverlight is replaces the Flash player and everyone develops content on a combination of Visual Studio and something called Expression. The player is “cross platform”, meaning that it runs on PCs and Macs. They don’t have a version for Linux (like Flash does), but hey. Who needs those guys? Of course, you can’t develop content for it on a Mac. The development tools are Windows only. That will surely have the Flash developers jumping ship in no time!
(Editor’s Note: Several people have brought Moonlight to my attention. I don’t really think it counts, at least not yet. Even they admit it’s a work in progress. It’s also developed and maintained by people outside of Microsoft, virtually guaranteeing compatibility problems.)
Considering their track record of Not Invented Here Syndrome, it’s hardly surprising they’d try something like this. What baffles me is that it doesn’t make any business sense. I mean, they’re giving away the player, so there’s no money there. They’re charging for the development tools, which are utterly non-compelling. Throw in the fact that for a content developer, there’s utterly no guarantee that web clients are going to have Silverlight installed, and I can’t really see the business proposition.
You know what would have been great? If Microsoft made something that say, easily integrates .NET and Flash. I mean, the SWF file format is well-known. The license terms permit other tools to create SWF files. Instead of wasting time and money creating a competing standard, why not embrace the standard that 98% of web clients already use to enhance the utility of your own products? Everyone would win, including you, Microsoft!
The funniest part of this whole sordid affair is that Microsoft doesn’t even use this pig. While it’s rumored that they’ll be moving the entirety of Microsoft.com to a Silverlight-based interface, none of their other important sites use it. I see you, back there, waving your hand in the air and mouthing the word “PopFly“. Shut up. That doesn’t count and you know it.
January 3rd, 2008 at 12:33 pm
That Microsoft Fantasy Land image is hilarious!
Who’s competing to become the “Microsoft” killer? Well, that’s a group effort, but I imagine their efforts will fair better than Silverlight and the Zune.
January 4th, 2008 at 2:19 am
Well, what you should not forget is that there is more than only a Flash “killer” inside Silverlight. One part is for generating UIs that could be done with Flash, too. The other part is that I get a .NET Framework (DLR) on the web client that will bring more power than e.g. JavaScript. Maybe you know the comparison of the Silverlight/JavaScript chees game on the Silverlight examples.
Michael
January 5th, 2008 at 3:29 pm
@Michael Schwarz: Thanks for the comment. You make a good point: Silverlight has many solid technical merits, a fact that I will not dispute. Do they eclipse Flash? Not so sure.
Either way, that’s not my point. OS/2 was technologically superior to Windows. That alone didn’t help them win against an entrenched competitor.
January 5th, 2008 at 6:56 pm
Still in its alpha(Silverlight 1.1/2.0) and many people labeled Silverlight as “The Flash Killer”. I say give it some time, let it develop, because right now everybody is comparing a technology that has been for years on the market(Flash) with a complete newcommer(Silverlight). I think that Adobe has got some serious competition, even at this stage(personal oppinion)
January 6th, 2008 at 1:17 pm
@Kiril: Thanks for the comment. Newcomer status notwithstanding, at the very best Microsoft has a huge uphill battle in front of them. I’m saying that even if they win, that battle is largely a wasted effort that could have been spent working *with* existing tools instead of trying to squash them.