i was looking for somthing like this, which takes some deep look into both runtimes, and thier biz impact. of course, the runtime wich will provide more APIs will not win, but the one which wins more customers/end-users, will :)

i’m looking at v1.1 release to start my experimentation, or maybe i will get impressed with some cool project, and start my exploration as well :D

currently i’m hooked with Flash Lite, tiny little things are extraordinary :D

// chall3ng3r //

I’m not particularly fond of Silverlight, but as a self proclaimed web ninja, I feel it’s a weapon I’m forced to learn to swing, and at the moment it seems to have a fairly dull blade. I started playing around with it when the Decmeber CTP was released, but after each update my examples would no longer work without some recoding so I held off for a while waiting for things to get a little more stable. During the last few weeks I’ve had the chance to do some more experimentation with Silverlight and things seem to have improved somewhat. I’ve put some samples up at http://www.vectorform.com/silverlight.

I’ve been developing in Flash for a long time (since version 3) and am obviously biased towards Flash because I can do things so quickly and easily with it, but Im not that biased to knock something new without trying it out.

Overall I feel MS released this too early as there is alot missing currently, but there are some nice features too. Since MS is pushing this so hard and obviously saw the need to develop their own plugin for RIA development, I’m guessing the next releases will make up for it, and I look forward to that. With automatic update, and the sheer size of developers that make up the .Net world there will probably be a lot of Silvelight development going on in the future.

But a big thing that will hinge upon the success though, is looks. Presentation is everything, pure and simple. Let’s get past the first big hurdle and say, for arguments sake, that the Silverlight plugin is instantly on every PC, maybe even on every Mac, right now. A Silverlight application or site might out perform the Flash equivalent (which in most cases I doubt) but if it looks like some of the things I’ve seen so far it wont matter. What I’ve seen for the most part (and there have been some exceptions) is what looks like when a programmer tries to design. What’s needed for Silverlight’s real success is for designers to step up and learn to use the MS tools (Expression Blend and Designer).

I just dont see this happening. At least to that great of an extent. Especially because the Expression Suite is currently only offered for the PC. Most designers I know use a Mac and most would never consider switching. I know there is a XAML exporter for Illustrator. And even an SWF to XAML animation converter, but when you think about that, what is so great in being able to do the SAME thing as Flash from a designers perspective? Why not just do it in Flash to begin with, especially if its something you’re already proficient in? I just dont see designers taking the time to learn a new Timeline system just because one’s available. In fact I think even if Mac versions of the software do emerge, a majority of designers would still prefer to use the tools they do today because, well because it what they’ve been using and can accomplish what they need to accomplish. Now if you’re not proficient in Flash and all this stuff is new to you (like most .Net folks) Silverlight is a portal to a new world… The Front End. And the Front End has that one all important differentiator. Aesthetics.

Another thing that will determine Silverlight’s success is the need. The need by the client. Besides video, more specifically wmv video, as you mentioned, I don’t see any client ever coming in and asking for Silverlight. Or me ever recommending Silverlight until it can do something Flash/Flex cannot.

On the flip side I see alot of MS shops now being able to fulfill a clients request for something cool or just different than the norm. What they’ve done in the past when confronted with this request I don’t know (maybe they said it couldn’t be done or said they didn’t have the appropriate skill set for it), but now they have an option, and that’s a good thing.

Thanks again for the great article and congrats on the new arrival!

I think MS and Java could have just supported and used the Flash Player (like Adobe supports and uses Windows) but at least HTML / JS / CSS developers will have an alternative plugin to free them from cross platform issues. Love that line, “Granted, it’s still a plug-in, so things aren’t perfect, but plug-ins exist because browser evolution is too slow to do what businesses need to do today.” The fact that MS, Sun and Adobe all are providing plugins says something. I’m talking to you AJAX dudes. jk ;)