Webware

Microsoft began distancing itself from browser plug-ins last year starting with Internet Explorer on Windows 8's Metro interface, but it spoke more definitively today: plug-ins are bad for the Web.

"Metro-style IE runs plug-in free to improve battery life as well as security, reliability, and privacy for consumers," said John Hrvatin, Internet Explorer program manager lead, in a blog post. "A plug-in free Web benefits consumers and developers and we all take part in the transition."

The upcoming IE10 browser doesn't just run in Metro, Microsoft's next-generation, touch-centric interface geared for tablets and … Read more

Mozilla has answered Microsoft's concern that WebGL raises too many security risks with the observation that Microsoft itself has accepted the same risks with 3D interface technology coming with its own Silverlight browser plug-in.

WebGL, a new standard from Khronos Group, lets Web programmers add hardware-accelerated 3D graphics to the Web with an interface that mirrors the OpenGL ES 2.0 standard used among other places in Android and iOS devices. WebGL opens up online possibilities such as virtual worlds and graphically rich games, and it's built into Mozilla's Firefox and Google's Chrome today.

Microsoft, though, … Read more

After Microsoft unveiled details on Windows 8 development last week, developers quickly realized that Silverlight had been left out of the discussion. And that was proving worrisome.

And now, Mary Jo Foley from our sister site ZDNet is urging Microsoft to make sure the platform comes back into the discussion, and soon.

At issue is Microsoft's upcoming handling of app development for the application marketplace in Windows 8. Foley says that by staying mum on Silverlight in connection with work on "immersive apps," Microsoft has caused some to wonder whether the platform will be supported. But Foley … Read more

Back in the good old days, Microsoft's Silverlight merely had to take on the mighty Flash Player.

Now Microsoft's browser plug-in has a very different challenge than Adobe Systems' rival technology: Web standards. And Microsoft, through the release of IE9 and presumably its successors, is helping to bring those standards to the real world.

Nevertheless, Redmond's engineers believe Silverlight has a future as a browser plug-in, and at Microsoft's Mix conference next week, the company will be trying to advance that future.

At Mix11, Microsoft plans to release a beta version of Silverlight 5, and augmenting … Read more

This story was updated at 4:50 p.m. PDT with a new headline, and additional comment from Microsoft.

Microsoft has taken the covers off a future update to its Bing Maps service that removes the need for its Silverlight browser plug-in to view an alternate mapping layer, and has also announced that it plans to remove its 3D map viewer. The changes will arguably make the service more approachable to the masses, but indicate that the company is going in a different direction with its online tools and technology platforms.

In a post on the Bing community blog, Bing … Read more

If one thing was made clear at Microsoft's Professional Developers Conference last week, it's that the software giant wants in on some of the HTML5 mojo competitors have been trumpeting over the last year or so. What wasn't made clear, however, was the future of Silverlight--Microsoft's media runtime that competes with HTML5 in a number of areas.

That much was presented to developers in the company's keynote, which encompassed updates to its virtualization and cloud computing platform, all the way to new phone apps and a platform preview of the company's update of … Read more

Brad Abrams, a project manager involved in several of Microsoft's core programming technologies, has taken a job at rival Google.

"I needed a change personally, to learn something new, see the tech world from a fresh perspective. And what better place than Google!" Abrams wrote in a blog post Monday. "As I look at where things are going in the industry (and where I think they should go), it is clear that the Web, and cloud+devices specifically, are the dominant trends of the future. Working at Google will give me an opportunity to have a … Read more

Editors' note, 4:30 p.m. PST: Netflix now claims that it incorrectly acknowledged 1080p streaming in the company's 2010 development road map. A Netflix representative has clarified that the company plans to bring 5.1 surround and closed captioning to its streaming HD videos later this year, though 1080p Watch Instantly is not on the books for this year. The text below is the original story, based on earlier conversations and e-mails with this Netflix representative.

Netflix subscribers with HDTVs and streaming boxes have something big to look forward to in the coming months. CNET has learned that … Read more

The developer of the Moonlight software that enables Silverlight applications to run on Linux computers said on Monday that he is ready to start publicly beta testing an update to the software.

In a blog posting, Miguel de Icaza said the beta of Moonlight 2.0 is available from the gomono.com Web site.

Moonlight 2.0 is aimed at achieving compatibility with sites written for Silverlight 2.0, but incorporates the media pipeline and a few other features of Silverlight 3.0, de Icaza said. Microsoft released Silverlight 3.0 last month.

The beta is available both as source … Read more