silverlight

Can Microsoft make Silverlight shine?

When Microsoft's Brian Goldfarb talks about Silverlight, he is usually having one of two types of conversations.

One is centered on market share and the fact that Adobe Systems' Flash is nearly ubiquitous on Internet-connected PCs, while Microsoft's rival technology is still on only a minority of devices.

That conversation typically starts out something like this: "You're not on 98 percent of machines like Adobe, so why should we care?"

The other is a debate on Silverlight's technical merits vis-a-vis Flash. "Obviously the second conversation is the one I really want to have--why … Read more

Microsoft remixed at Mix '08

It's probably not a wholly accurate description, but to call Mix '08 the conference for "the new Microsoft" doesn't seem that far off. Perhaps even more apt would be to think of it as the show for Microsoft as it aspires to be. Other possibilities? Well, if one were cynical, maybe "the conference for Microsoft as it wishes others to see it." Or if one were sympathetic to the travails of companies with large, and fundamentally conservative, installed bases how about this for a tag line: "If only change were easy as giving … Read more

Microsoft to license Adobe's Flash Lite

This post was updated at 10:15 a.m. PDT to correct the spelling on Anup Murarka's name.

Even though it has plans to release a competing technology, Microsoft has agreed to license Adobe's Flash Lite technology for its Windows Mobile operating system and browser.

The two companies early on Monday announced that Microsoft has signed a license to use Flash Lite and Reader LE in future Windows Mobile handsets as plug-ins for Internet Explorer Mobile. Terms of the deal were not disclosed, such as what the companies plan to do when Microsoft releases Silverlight for Mobile, a … Read more

Preview: AOL's Web mail with a dose of Silverlight

We were lucky enough to get a chance to play with one of AOL's works-in-progress, a version of the company's popular Web mail service done entirely in Microsoft's Silverlight. It was briefly shown off at Mix '08 last week, but is not due to get into your hands for another month or two--where it will be an opt-in alpha before going out to everyone else when Silverlight 2.0 leaves beta.

In its current form it doesn't look a whole lot different from the regular version of AOL's mail. The big difference is in the … Read more

Demand for Microsoft Silverlight remains sluggish

Microsoft has been making a big push to own the web with Silverlight, but six months into the experiment, few are signing up to help with the coup d'etat. Sure, Microsoft is seeing plenty of downloads (1.5 million per day, in fact, though this may have to do more with Microsoft games than real demand)Computerworld scanned the job boards and printed book titles to gauge Silverlight demand and found it a distant also-ran to Adobe's Flash:

[T]he ratio of jobs mentioning Flash or Silverlight heavily favored the former. Ratios ranged from a high of 67:1 in favor of Flash at Careerbuilder.com to a still weighty 24:1 at Dice.com. All told, averaging ratios from the nine sites found programming jobs requiring Flash skills to be 41 times more plentiful than ones asking for Silverlight.

Silverlight is new and so it's to be expected that it will take time to find publishers and employers who need in-house expertise. Even so, if developers were actively interested in it they would be searching for more information on it. They're not, as this Google Trends report shows:… Read more

Ray Ozzie bringing 'syncromesh' to the Web

Ray Ozzie has a history of trying to break through software and usability barriers. With Lotus Notes, he and his team spent years creating the underlying client/server collaboration technology to enable synchronization, or replication of e-mail online and offline.

His second major initiative, Groove Networks, took the synchronization and collaboration concept into the peer-to-peer realm, allowing individual PCs to communicate directly with one another.

Groove Networks was sold to Microsoft in March 2005, and Ozzie began his next major iteration on a much bigger stage, as Microsoft's chief software architect.

Ozzie teased the next evolution of his decades-long … Read more

Microsoft looking for a Silverlight bullet

LAS VEGAS--Microsoft is looking to position its Silverlight Web technology as the coolest kid in school--one that is both popular and gets along with everyone.

At the Mix '08 show here, the company talked about its Mac, Linux, and mobile-phone compatibility and brought out customers like Hard Rock Cafe, NBC, and AOL to talk about how they are using the technology. It also showed Silverlight running on the newest compatible device--Nokia's smartphones.

Microsoft's Scott Guthrie also alluded to support for Apple's iPhone, saying Microsoft wants Silverlight running on "anything that has an SDK (software development kit)."

In the Hard Rock Cafe example, the restaurant and hotel chain used the technology to showcase its massive, 70,000-piece collection of rock artifacts. "This is 2 billion pixels," said a representative of the company who built the site for the Hard Rock.

AOL showed off a new version of AOL Mail, while NBC touted its plans to use Silverlight to bring more than 2,200 hours of video both live and on-demand.

It's all part of Microsoft's aggressive pitch to Web developers, a clear acknowledgment that Microsoft faces a tough battle to win the hearts and minds of those who build Web sites and applications.

"I know today you have many amazing technology choices," Ray Ozzie said in his introductory comments. "But I'd like you to bet on us because I think together we can create extraordinary experiences.… Read more

NBC looks to win Silverlight medal

LAS VEGAS--This summer, NBC plans to show 1,200 hours of video from the Beijing Olympics on five different channels.

But the company also knows that's not nearly enough for many people. At January's Consumer Electronics Show, Bill Gates announced a partnership with Microsoft to bring that video and another 1,000 hours to the Web, available both live and on-demand.

"It's going to be terrific and I am terrified," said Perkins Miller, a senior vice president for digital media for NBC Sports and Olympics. "One hundred fifty days from today we are going … Read more

Ozzie outlines Microsoft's embrace and extend to the cloud strategy

Following a most amazing pre-keynote performance by Vince Mira, a 15-year-old with the voice of Johnny Cash without the gravel, Microsoft Chief Software Architect took the stage to update the software and services strategy, in the context of content, commerce and community, for company.

As News.com's Ina Fried chronicled in her play-by-play of the keynote, Ozzie offered carefully orchestrated nod to the bid for Yahoo. "I can say its [Yahoo] already added some interesting twists to what promises to be a really, really exciting year," he said.

He noted the huge growth coming in search and … Read more