Making plans for the web’s future – Microsoft’s Silverlight

Microsoft’s Silverlight software is starting to get some attention and here the BBC News website explains why the technology is important. When Microsoft unveiled Silverlight at the NAB Show in April 2006, industry commentators instantly dubbed it a “Flash killer” and said it spelled serious competition for Adobe’s widely used animating tool. Also includes a link to “Nokia smartphones to turn on Microsoft’s Silverlight” (Computerworld) and “Microsoft, Nokia Put Silverlight On Mobile Devices” (Information Week).

Microsoft’s Silverlight software is starting to get some attention and here the BBC News website explains why the technology is important.When Microsoft unveiled Silverlight at the NAB Show in April 2006, industry commentators instantly dubbed it a “Flash killer” and said it spelled serious competition for Adobe’s widely used animating tool.At first glance, Silverlight did seem to deserve the description as it seemed to be a tool chest that let designers and developers produce the same sort of animated and rich websites that Flash coders can.But, as more details of Silverlight emerge, it is clear that calling it a “Flash killer” is to seriously underestimate Microsoft’s ambitions for it.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/6678097.stmNokia smartphones to turn on Microsoft’s Silverlight
Microsoft Corp. said Tuesday that it will deliver a version of its Silverlight media player for Nokia Corp.’s market-leading S60 platform for smartphones by the end of this year.Microsoft will also develop a version of Silverlight to run on Nokia’s older S40 platform, as well as Nokia’s Internet tablets, according to John Case, product manager for Microsoft’s developer tools.Officially launched last September after months of hype, Silverlight is a cross-browser multimedia player similar to Adobe Systems Inc.’s dominant Flash player. It runs on Windows, Mac and, soon, Linux.
computerworld.com/action/article.do?command=viewArticleBasic&articleId=9066518Microsoft, Nokia Put Silverlight On Mobile DevicesThe strategy to get its rich Internet app on cell phones is part of Microsoft’s effort to make the browser plug-in a cross-platform, cross-browser product.Microsoft’s bringing Silverlight to cell phones, partnering with Nokia to bring the rich Internet app browser plug-in to devices that use Nokia’s popular S60 software platform.Nokia will also make Silverlight available on its Series 40 devices and its Internet Tablet devices, the companies are expected to announce Tuesday.The strategy to get Silverlight on mobile devices — and particularly on the Symbian OS — is part of Microsoft’s effort to make the browser plug-in a cross-platform, cross-browser product in order to get as much penetration as possible on the Web. The company is also working on a version of Silverlight for Windows Mobile, a beta version of which is due out soon.
informationweek.com/news/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=206901441

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