Microsoft's Silverlight technology, launched at the NAB conference two weeks ago and pitched hard to developers at the Mix '07 conference this week, is being taken as a competitor to Adobe's Flash. Since it is a framework for providing rich applications to the Internet browser, it is indeed that. But though Silverlight and Flash are competing technologies, Microsoft's offering is different from Adobe's in key ways.
More than just a platform
Silverlight is being pushed side-by-side with Microsoft's Live services for developers. Microsoft is opening up APIs (application program interfaces) for its search engine, for Virtual Earth, for its instant messaging service, and for other services, under generous, but not unlimited, licensing terms. These services will allow the creation of interesting online applications that take advantage of existing Microsoft networks and resources. For example, Match.com today demoed a new version of its service that can connect directly to other Match.com subscribers who are MSN Messenger users. Mash-ups are nothing new, of course, but it is important that Microsoft is giving developers access to its computing resources as well as its user base.
Silverlight supports the display of high-definition video files, and importantly, Microsoft will do the heavy lifting of sending them over the Net. Streaming large media files is expensive, but Microsoft will (optionally) host Silverlight media files and applications. This will enable smaller developers to deliver large and high-definition files quickly and reliably, without paying content distribution network fees. Microsoft is promising reliable 700kbps throughput for media files, and free distribution of all content on its network for one year. After that, distribution will continue to be free up to 1 million streamed minutes a month. Fees after that have not been set.
Also, Silverlight applications are delivered to a browser in a text-based markup language called XAML. That's no big deal for Web users once they land on a site. But search engines, like Google, can scan XAML. They can't dive into compiled Flash applications. Flash-heavy sites do often wrap their applications in Web code that search engines can crawl, although it's extra work for developers and designers to do it, and may not yield search results that are as good as they would be if the search engine was indexing the actual application instead of keywords tacked on after the fact. Silverlight applications will be more findable.
One thing Silverlight isn't though, is a competitor to Apollo (hands-on), Adobe's technology that lets developers take their online applications and make them into standalone desktop apps. Apollo developers will be able to take advantage of capabilities that make applications behave properly whether they are online or not. Silverlight does not yet offer those capabilities, although I heard that apps written in Silverlight will be able to modify the "chrome" or basic user interface of a browser while they are running, to further obscure the difference between a browser-based app and traditional software.
But what's in it for me?
Windows users probably won't care whether the rich Web app they are visiting is using Silverlight or Flash. Both technologies require a small plug-in (as of IE7, Flash is no longer bundled with the browser) and once installed, both are invisible until the user hits a page that requires their services.
Web developers will care about which technology they choose, though. Publishers and developers want their apps to run on as many platforms as possible, and while Silverlight apps will run on both major Windows browsers as well as on Safari and Firefox on a Mac, Microsoft does not have a sterling track record in delivering ongoing support for Mac apps and platforms. Nonetheless, the developer community seems to have given Silverlight a thumbs-up, so expect to see interesting new Web apps coming out that use it.
Already, Microsoft has done a good job of lining up top-tier developers. At the launch of the conference, we saw demos from Netflix (video), Major League Baseball (video), and CBS. All showed applications that combined very impressive user interaction, streaming video, and interesting community features. Netflix, for example, lets two users sync their videos so they're both watching the same movie together. MLB lets one person send another a clip of an in-game event, which displays in a picture-in-picture view on their game display.
It looks like Silverlight is not just solid technology, but that Microsoft has also put together an infrastructure of supporting services offered at can't-say-no prices. The Web was hardly hurting for innovation up to now, but Silverlight will likely encourage even more of it.
To download the Silverlight plug-in and check out the Silverlight demos, go to Microsoft's Silverlight site.
Other Silverlight stories worth reading:
- TechCrunch: The Web Just Got Richer
- Scobleizer: Microsoft "rebooted the Web"
- News.com: Microsoft takes Silverlight beyond Windows
- News.com: Ray Ozzie interview
- More Webware stories on Silverlight
At the Mix '07 developers' conference tomorrow, AOL will show off its new Vista sidebar widget built with Silverlight technology. Called the "social e-mail gadget," this new tool will let you know when your personal A-list of contacts sends you an e-mail or IM, or posts a photo or video on an AOL service.
New and different
AOL's upcoming rockin' Vista widget.
(Credit: CNET)I kind of like the idea. E-mail is too cumbersome to monitor in a widget, unless you are rigorous about creating and maintaining filters, and even standard IM buddy lists have become visually overwhelming, due to the number of contacts most people now have. This new miniapplication lets you keep track of just the few people that really matter to you.
Who's in your A-list changes, of course--sometimes daily. For example, during the workday you might want to monitor your boss and your direct reports, or your top customers. In the evening you might want to know when your family is trying to reach you. When you're traveling your list might change again. AOL's widget will let you define different profiles that you can apply. In future versions, it may switch automatically based on time of day or location.
The graphics are a little precious, though. The two templates I saw assigned either surfboards or guitars to individuals. Hopefully a quieter interface will be available when the service goes into public beta this summer. Future versions will also (probably) monitor updates from non-AOL services, like Flickr and MySpace.
New and the same
AOL's e-mail monitor widget, expanded.
(Credit: CNET)Since I was meeting with folks from AOL, I took the opportunity to scold them for the company's rip-off of the design of Yahoo's front page. SVP Rich Landsman acknowledged the similarities, but said that in order to form a full opinion, one should look not at the AOL and Yahoo pages right now, but rather watch the AOL site as it develops over time. We'll do that, and we look forward to watching the site diverge from its current copycat look and feel. But at Webware we still think that a home page is a giant branding statement, and that it should really say something other than, "Me too." And today, not three months from now.
Landsman did take pains to point out how the beta of AOL's new e-mail is unique. It's fast, he says, and has au courant Ajaxy features like endless scroll (no more paging through your in-box), and a configurable right-hand pane that can list contacts, events, or other data (more options will be added soon, he says). Also, he points to the "intro curtain" where AOL's top news stories are presented in a slide-down window when you log on, instead of a blocker screen that gets in your way, as on the new Yahoo mail service. He thinks this feature will be copied by others, and wanted to be sure I remembered where I saw it first. Noted.
Scott Guthrie, GM of platform development at Microsoft, gave a talk targeted at developers here at the Mix 07 conference (which is, frankly, all targeted at developers). Here's the takeaway from his talk for Web users: HD-quality streaming video, as well as "DVD-like interactivity and overlays."
Guthrie quickly handed off his talk to Netflix for a demo we've been waiting for, by Neil Hunt of Netflix and Darin Brown of Avenue A/Razorfish. Check out the video:
Microsoft is rolling out Silverlight, its competitor to Adobe's Flash technology, today at the Mix '07 event in Las Vegas. I'm sitting in the audience waiting for the keynote to start and will report on interesting developments as they happen.
For a news preview, see Martin LaMonica's story on News.com, Microsoft opens up on Web strategy at Mix '07.
Ray Ozzie on stage now, saying that the "pendulum is swinging once more," in the Web vs PC world. The "vs." is the Web, openness and "creepy behavioral analytics," vs. freedom and openness. Did he really say that? Yes, but at the same time he's pushing the flexibility of the Web and talking about the "power of browser extensions" and the growth of rich internet applications.
The richness of apps that people need, and the number of platforms (mobile, gaming, PC, etc), makes things complex for developers. What's a developer to do?
There are "Universal Web" apps that have to run on everything, and "Experience First" apps that are designed to maximize the user experience on a particular device. Ozzie runs down a potential breakdown - Web for universal app, downloaded app for richer interactivity. Doing both brings together "best of the Web and best of the device," is very powerful, and keeps the "service as the hub."
So what's the news? Silverlight was announced two weeks ago, Ozzie says. Today he's announcing that Microsoft is bringing .Net technology together with Silverlight. "Silverlight brings .Net to the universal Web." Showing demo now of desktop apps using Silverlight running against Web-based apps.
Apps include rich content browsers (watch the pages turn), 3D worlds for gaming and shopping, media, and cool 3D analytics.
Ozzie recognizing that most media is created on the desktop even though it's viewed online. MS releasing full suite of tools for media people and designers. Expression Studio is officially shipping today.
Ozzie announcing new APIs for developers to give developers access to MS apps like Virtual Earth. And with those new APIs, new commercial license terms for using them.
New cool "zoomability" API for navigating pictures. Based on PhotoSynth. This is actually very cool.
Silverlight is just one of MS' "foundational investments." "Today beings the conversation and refinement" of the technology.
New part of Silverlight: "Silverlight Streaming," which allows developers to post apps to Microsoft's "storage server in the cloud," for delivery to publishers' Web sites. "It's on us (with some reasonable limitations)."
The pendulum has swung from pure software to pure service, to a blend of software and service.
Ozzie bringing up Scott Guthrie now, for demos.
Related Links:
A new Microsoft software plus service: Silverlight Streaming (ZDNet)
Ray Ozzie: Silverlight + .NET and 'experience first' software (ZDNet)
Images: Dawn of Silverlight (ZDNet)
Various Silverlight videos--including a webcast of this event (Microsoft)
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