Operating System conjurer Microsoft has officially delivered the first release of Silverlight, its answer to Flash, AJAX and friends…
Redmond works with Novell to port “Flash killer”
Microsoft Corp. on Wednesday announced the commercial release of Silverlight 1.0 “Flash killer” — a cross-browser, cross-platform plug-in for delivering richer user experiences on the web, and the company also will participate in Novell’s porting of Silverlight to Linux via the Moonlight project.
“The Redmond giant unveiled Silverlight at the 2007 National Association of Broadcasters conference in April and released the beta version to the public in May.”
Silverlight represents Microsoft’s efforts to present multimedia experiences on the Web, offering enhanced audio and video streaming and playback using Windows Media Technologies. The technology aims squarely at rival Adobe Systems and its ubiquitous Flash Player for multimedia on the Web.
“We are finally shipping the plug-in,” said Parimal Desphande, group product manager for the User Experience Platform and Tools team at Microsoft.
Silverlight claims to significantly reduce development and deployment costs, and provides enhanced web audio and video streaming and playback using Windows Media.
Ray Ozzie, chief software architect at Microsoft, said: “With today’s release of Silverlight 1.0, we are making it possible for developers and designers to deliver to individuals the kind of high-def experiences they crave for by integrating data and services in rich and unique ways.”
Ozzie added that Silverlight 1.0 will offer developers and designers new options for delivering content across multiple platforms including web, PC, phone and other devices.
Adobe and Sun have similar packages; Flex and JavaFX respectively, and anyone who is handy with JavaScript, HTML, CSS, Java, Flash and SQL can achieve many of the same things that these packages provide, at the expense of time.
From its outset, Silverlight should help Microsoft find a new foothold in Web interface design and compete with Adobe Flash in the emerging area of rich Internet applications.
“Our expectations for compelling, immersive experiences on the Web are increasing daily,” Ozzie, said in a statement. Silverlight 1.0 will focus mostly on audio and video, but future versions will let developers program for the Web in .NET and may find themselves powering the user interfaces for Microsoft’s own Web properties.
Redmond also announced several high-profile partners that will deliver video and Web content via Silverlight, including the Home Shopping Network, World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) and the TV show Entertainment Tonight.
However, when Silverlight was first announced and later previewed, criticism arose around lack of support for Operating Systems other than Windows and OS X.
While Silverlight currently works with Windows and Macintosh, Microsoft is endorsing Novell’s plan to make Silverlight run on Linux clients via the Moonlight project.
Moonlight 1.0 is expected to be done within six months, said Miguel de Icaza, vice president for the developer platform at Novell, who has been overseeing Moonlight.
“We will be distributing Moonlight for all the major distributions and provide both packages in RPM and DEB distribution forms as well as having a Mozilla-based installer for those not familiar with the packaging system in Linux,” de Icaza said.
The decision to work with Novell to offer Silverlight support for the Linux platform is in direct response to customer feedback, both companies said.
Today’s announcement from Microsoft states not only that some 35 companies have joined the “Silverlight Partnership Initiative” at launch, all of which will be using the technology to rich web experience for users, but also that Microsoft’s going to “work with Novell” on bringing Silverlight to Linux.
Microsoft cites several differentiators between Silverlight and Flash. Silverlight, Deshpande said, offers high-definition video at a lower cost and functions with Microsoft’s developer tools. The company also is offering a SaaS-based component, Silverlight Streaming by Windows Live.
“For customers who want to use our service for streaming video content, we have that as well,” Deshpande said.
The ability to use Microsoft tools with Silverlight provides an advantage, said Ross Angert, creative director for interactive media at World Wrestling Entertainment.
“It is the advantages from a development side that Silverlight offers us,” in terms of streaming video costs and displaying multiple video streams, he said.
“Silverlight will give users access to our entire library of videos,” said Angert.
Silverlight’s initial — and perhaps final — success will hinge heavily on content, especially if it is to assault the strong position of the almost ubiquitous Adobe Flash. Microsoft said it would not use Windows Update to push Silverlight out to consumers, instead relying on content providers and Microsoft.com.
Developers can use Microsoft’s Visual Studio and Expression tools to develop applications for Silverlight. The company is releasing Expression Encoder 1.0, formerly Expression Media Encoder, a tool for encoding and publishing rich media content to Silverlight, on Wednesday.
“The key thing is the types of experiences customers are building with Silverlight,” said Brian Goldfarb, Microsoft’s group product manager for the developer division’s platform and tools strategy, in an interview.
Microsoft is making its move on turf currently controlled by Adobe Systems Inc.’s Flash player, which is used by YouTube videos, for example.
The beta and release candidate versions of Silverlight, which boasts 720p high-definition video that trumps the existing version of Flash, have garnered several million downloads so far, Goldfarb said.
Microsoft will build the video codecs for the Moonlight project and supply Novell with software to test and ensure Silverlight runs well on 32-bit and 64-bit PCs running Suse Linux, Red Hat and Ubuntu, Goldfarb said.
“With browser wars 2.0 fizzling out somewhat, it looks like the next 2.0 battle is to be fought over Silverlight, Flex and JavaFX.”