Mix 09: Silverlight 3 takes center stage
Microsoft's Scott Guthrie on stage at Mix 09, detailing Silverlight 3.
(Credit: Ina Fried/CNET)LAS VEGAS--After a design-focused beginning, the talk quickly turned techie here at the Mix 09 event once Microsoft corporate VP Scott Guthrie took the stage.
After announcing a few different Web tools (which I'll save for lower down), the discussion shifted to Silverlight and Silverlight 3. Guthrie noted that so far there have been 350 million installations of Silverlight and said Microsoft believes there are now 300,000 developers targeting Silverlight.
Among the new features of Silverlight 3 is the ability to tap a computer's graphics processor to offer hardware acceleration of the video (both PC and Mac). The company is expected to make the beta version of Silverlight 3 available later on Wednesday, with some pieces of the product already having made their way onto the Web. (Update: Microsoft has officially announced the beta of Silverlight 3.)
NBC's Perkins Miller also took the stage to announce that his network will be using Microsoft's Silverlight to offer 720p HD streaming of the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver. The technology will also allow pausing and rewinding of live TV, Miller said.
Before turning to the new version of Silverlight, Guthrie brought out Kevin McEntee vice president of Web Engineering for Netflix. McEntee noted that Netflix started considering Silverlight about a year ago as a way to add support for the Mac and for more browsers.
"Twenty percent of users that wanted to stream Netflix movies couldn't because we weren't on the Macintosh and we weren't on Firefox," McEntee said. In the end, Netflix went all Silverlight for its streaming player because it allowed them to use a single player that can work across multiple browsers and computers.
Another benefit, McEntee said, is the fact that the company doesn't need to do a new installer each time it updates its player. In the past, updates required users to re-install the Netflix application, something that 20 percent of users either could not or would not do. That kept the company from innovating, limiting updates to once a year.
"Every two weeks we are trying something new," McEntee said.
As for the other products, Microsoft announced a new version of its Expression Web tool that includes a "SuperPreview" feature that allows Web designers to see what their page looks like on a variety of browsers--even browsers that are on other platforms, by tapping into a cloud service. Microsoft also made a free standalone version of SuperPreview available to allow users to compare how Web pages render in the three latest versions of Internet Explorer--IE 6, IE 7, and IE 8.
Guthrie also announced a few new details on Windows Azure, reiterating that the final version of the Azure platform is due to launch before the end of 2009. Among the features being added is the inclusion of Fast CGI support, which means Azure will be capable of running PHP applications in addition to those written for Microsoft's .Net.
Update: Guthrie offered a few more details on Silverlight 3. The new version can be used to write programs that run outside the browser on both PCs and Macs. As for timing, Guthrie said the company plans for only a single beta. "We'll ship the final release later this year."
On the Mac front, Microsoft also said that developers will now be able to use Eclipse on Macs to develop Silverlight applications.
During her years at CNET News, Ina Fried has changed beats several times, changed genders once, and covered both of the Pirates of Silicon Valley. These days, most of her attention is focused on Microsoft. E-mail Ina. 
http://www.eweek.com/c/a/Application-Development/Microsoft-Touts-Silverlight-Interop-with-Eclipse-Java/
I think this is a big win for Open Source and was expecting a news article from Ina or Matt...
Here's the eclipse plugin download, for those interested:
http://www.eclipse4sl.org/download/mac/
This underscores how serious (I'm sure some folks here would rather use the term "desparate") Microsoft is with the platform.
By the way, it says in the article for Java developers but it's really in C# language (which is similar, but not the same as Java). But just the same you can now write Silverlight applications from the Mac!
I'm going to hold my breath and hope that QTX, which should be out soon, will dispose of both Flash and Silverlight.
QT has no DRM at the moment, but I have no doubt that QTX will. And although I hate that idea, I hate the idea of Silverlight MORE.
And yes Silverlight's DRM solution works on both the Mac and PC and soon Linux. All you haters give it a rest.
..."And yes Silverlight's DRM solution works on both the Mac and PC and soon Linux. All you haters give it a rest."...
Dude, Microsoft's offering cannot span as far as Flash can. Silverlight only works on Windows and sometimes Mac (Intel-only)! And I seriously doubt Microsoft will release Silverlight for Linux.
And give you hate drivel a rest while you're at it.
"And I seriously doubt Microsoft will release Silverlight for Linux"
You are absolutely correct. Microsoft will not release Silverlight for Linux, because there is a open source initiative well underway called moonlight. Check out at http://www.mono-project.com/MoonlightRoadmap
It seems a lot of people think Microsoft is trying to go head to head with Flash in a sense that MS wants people to start making annoying vector animations in Silverlight and deploy their video content through it. Partially yes (it gets people to download), but I their sights are more set on Adobe Flex/AIR. Microsoft has a huge developer base in .NET land and Silverlight is a natural extension of the .NET paradigm. I program Flex apps and I have never, ever, been overwhelmed by Adobe in terms of tools and robustness. They're pretty much blowing it on Flex and AIR as far as I'm concerned. I'm friends with a couple .NET developers and am constantly envious of Visual Studio and resources they have at their disposal. Extend this into Silverlight and I expect good things.
Slow your roll guy. Your info isn't correct:
The MS Silverlight Team has been working hard with the MONO guys to get MoonLight with DRM support. Looks like you missed this but it's already released and on version 2.
http://www.mono-project.com/MoonlightRoadmap
Don't be the guy that rushes in without first thinking and researching and hey try being polite too.
ncalishome brings up a very good point. Silverlight is somewhat a subset of the capabilities in every Vista machine and soon Win7... WPF/E
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Windows_Presentation_Foundation
AIR was Adobe's direct response to Microsoft's approach to moving towards this model.
Not to mention they are wrapping a week long Mix Show in Vegas where rumor has it, there was a lot of momentum and energy around many of the new SL applications.
NCAA is also using the product like on CBS SPorts's Final 4 site and The Olympic Committee just announced 2010 Winter Olympics will use SL3.
I think that not understanding (or underestimating) the Microsoft developer community is where the real shortsightedness comes from. I am not in it (Flex/LAMP monkey here) but I know many who are, and Silverlight 3 (Blend 3) is going to drop right into the Visual Studio promised land as intended all along and really extend the community at larges reach into RIA development in a comfortable way. I'd say largely exceeding what we've seen by and large with Flex/AIR to date.
Microsoft goes to great lengths to make their developers happy and I think Blend 3 with Visual Studio integration is going to give Adobe a brutal fight. Adobe constantly disappoints me. If you do fairly complex Flash projects as my company does, you also know that you have to cross-browser test your work as the plug-ins don't always work the same.
On laying off 50 people in Netflix tech support: "He credited Microsoft's Silverlight with making it easier for customers to install Netflix's player on PCs and Macs."
All in all this is a good switch for Netflix. Their old player was really finicky. The DRM was out of control crap. I have three screens and with the old player I could only play it on my primary monitor due to the DRM. Frequently I'd have to run a tool to reset it, which sometimes wouldn't work leading to tech support calls. I stream quite a few movies and the new player is progress to me... Tons faster skipping around to find a part in a movie, and the thumbnail view when you're navigating through the timeline is great. And no nazi DRM.
- by streamOG March 20, 2009 1:00 PM PDT
- ncalishome... sorry but actually yeah the Silverlight content does have DRM. That's the whole point of the big changes with PlayReady for Silverlight. You didn't even know they were using it :)
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- by ncalishome March 21, 2009 12:55 PM PDT
- I know Silverlight has DRM, I was simply stating that the DRM in the old Netflix player needed to be shot and killed. It was terrible. :)
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(19 Comments)http://www.youtube.com/marchmadness
For those of you that said Silverlight would never see YouTube.... think again.
Thanks for Youtube link.. I didn't see that coming