Another Silverlight Rant!
I debated even posting about this because there are so many developers in the Flash community already talking about it; then I thought why not I still have a few questions. I won’t take this post as far as bashing Silverlight as much as a search for an answer to “Why switch?”
There is no argue that Microsoft has offered the RIA world a new way to create and display solid interactive applications, but I still don’t see a need to switch. Dave Wolf from Cynergy comments on how this is good for the world of RIA’s and only confirms that RIA’s are here to stay. I agree. As well as I agree with all of the bloggers stating that this competition will be good for Flash and can only help its future growth. But I still want to know why I would switch to developing applications in XAML and JavaScript and as Keith Peters says, taking a 5 year step backwards with prototype classes.
I attended MIX 2006 where Microsoft demoed WPF and a bit of WPF/E and I watched the Flash developers around the room with smirks on their faces basically saying, “Okay, I’ve been able to do that for 5 years with Flash.” They continued to show applications with a cube of videos that spun as a 3D object. Kinda cool and it was very smooth because their player has a closer tie to the hardware but I don’t think that will sell it for anyone.
I promise, I’m not trying to bash Silverlight, I just don’t understand why I would switch. Okay, maybe I don’t have to and that is not the question, maybe I should be asking why business owners and executives are asking my to really look into this. Why do they care? Since when is it a business goal of an application to have XAML over MXML or vice versa? It must be because Silverlight can do something more than Flash. If so, what can it do? As of a year ago I was not impressed. It was shiny, and I like shiny things that move, but I had seen it all before.
So I guess I can end by asking those of you who have worked with WPF or Silverlight, what can it do that Flash cannot and how important are these features to the success of solid web or desktop applications?
April 20th, 2007 at 2:01 am
You don’t switch, you just use (both).
One of many ways to think of Silverlight, is for example extension to AJAX if that helps?
-
Scott Barnes
Developer Evangelist
Microsoft.
April 20th, 2007 at 11:38 am
I agree it is hard to see switching if you are already a flash developer. I think itis more to keep .NET guys from moving into flex. There are a lot of pure .NET guys who will be more comfortable using Silverlight’s approach anyway.
The use of MS Media will be an advantage in some situations as well.
April 20th, 2007 at 10:57 pm
Scott,
I bet you are pretty busy at this time answering posts like this. I want to say that I agree with you and have commented in more depth to your post Silverlight or Flash, pick now or else!.
- Tim
April 20th, 2007 at 10:59 pm
John,
Where do you see MS Media being more advantages? DRM? Quality?
Thanks,
Tim
April 23rd, 2007 at 5:47 am
Hey Tim, I tend to agree with John on the video issue. The codec that Windows Media uses (VC-1) is more open than the one that Flash Video uses (the On2 codec). So not only is the quality higher, the overall infrastructure is better. From my research, it’s cheaper to deploy a Silverlight video solution than a Flash solution in most cases, but that’s still very dependent on your use case.
May 1st, 2007 at 11:32 am
Question is, if VC-1 is so open, what will stop Adobe from implementing it in Flash 10 (say), if it turns out this is so important.
And if Adobe cant’ integrate it for legal reasons, then how can you claim it’s so open.
Something to think about.
September 26th, 2007 at 2:44 am
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