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8 cool things about Silverlight

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Technorati Tags: Silverlight

Updated 2-Oct-2007....  

If you’re not yet familiar with Silverlight, it’s Microsoft's mechanism for helping folks create, distribute, and experience rich media and rich internet applications.   The use cases are similar to Flash, but Silverlight differs in some important respects.  In some cases the capabilities in the list below are unique to Silverlight, in some cases they are capabilities that are comparable between Silverlight and Flash, and in all cases they are part of a rich web, rich media solution stack from Microsoft that enterprises can effectively architect with, build with, deploy, and manage.   Taken as a whole, these capabilities do more than make Silverlight different -- they create value for enterprises, as well as their consumers, because it means richer web experiences can be delivered and kept fresh for less money out the door. 

  1. Graphics are rendered XAML – XML Application Markup Language.  Why is this cool?  Well, XAML in a page is text – so it can be indexed and searched.  A Flash .swf file is a binary "black box" to a search engine.  Perhaps even better, it means better separation of UI and logic, and new possibilities with XSLT transforms and personalization. 
  2. Far improved designer/dev workflows, and higher fidelity to design intent, as everybody can work on the same artifacts.  Designers use Expression suite.  Devs use Visual Studio.  Why is this cool?  Less time to develop solutions means faster time-to-market and less cost. 
  3. Graphics are vector graphics, so they can scale for different display settings.  Why is this cool?  Personally, I don't care for acres of blank space on either side of web page.  Flash has some capabilities here, and now, so does Microsoft. 
  4. Highest quality video (up to 720p HD) at the lowest price to encode/serve. (On the order of 3x scalability benefit, retails for 1/3 the cost, I hear).  Why is this cool?  Need I say more?  
  5. With Silverlight 1.0, you can make rich interactive apps with Javascript and xaml.  With 1.1 (RTM in 2008), you can make rich apps with .Net.  Why is this cool?  You can get the associated developer, testing, and App Lifecycle Management capabilities of .NET for your rich media apps and RIAs. 
  6. Client plugin for IE, Safari, and Firefox and runs on Windows, Mac, and Linux (coming soon – see Moonlight) client OSes.  Can even deliver Silverlight content to browsers from Linux web servers. Why is this cool?  This is pretty significant -- I believe this is the first time Microsoft has ever engineered part of the CLR to run on non-Windows operating systems.   
  7. Because it’s a subset of .NET 3.0 (and WPF, specifically), can leverage the same development skills for rich web apps as you would for Windows smart client apps.  Why is this cool?  More developer productivity, and more flexibility for enterprises allocating developers across different types of projects.     
  8. With Silverlight Streaming, from Windows Live, everyone with a Windows Live ID can get 4 GB of *free* silverlight hosting/streaming for videos and applications.  Why is this cool?  If you have your own site, you can enable your consumers/users to transparently upload content to the Silverlight Streaming service -- without ever leaving your site! 

For some examples of what people are doing with Silverlight, see Jon Box's post here where he gives a nice summary of the big Silverlight annoncements made earlier this month (1.0 RTW, official confirmation of moonlight, Silverlight showcase).  The Silverlight showcase is the one you're looking for.

Comments

  • Anonymous
    September 18, 2007
    If you’re not yet familiar with Silverlight , it’s Microsoft's mechanism for helping folks create

  • Anonymous
    December 14, 2007
    Was talking to some folks the other day about some of the cool stuff emerging from Microsoft, and after