"Microsoft, apparently, is helping the folks at Mono to port Silverlight to Linux. This is good news, as the primary fear I've heard from developers is that Silverlight will be locked to Microsoft platforms and products. Microsoft has already committed to supporting Silverlight cross-browser on Windows, and has a version that runs on Mac OS X (which is even available from the Apple web site). The last step is Linux, and Microsoft is working with Novell and Mono to make this happen."
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Member since:2006-02-05
Excuse my ignorance if I'm wrong (JavaFX is like, the most unreported upcoming technology ever), but isn't JavaFX closer to Adobe's Apollo framework? A rich web app for the desktop.
Silverlight addresses problems which currently exist, such as as cool as AJAX is, it is not enough, and that while flash is fantastic at animations and content delivery, it is extremely kludgy to use for an application.
As for the VM, it is already on all XP SP2 and Vista boxes, which together already account for almost 85% of the desktop market. Silverlight itself weighs in at 1.3megs (at least on windows). The JRE on the other hand weighs in at 7.1 megs, and does not come preinstalled on windows boxes unless the OEM installs it.
Member since:2005-07-06
You'll find that Apollo is to Flash what XML is to Adobe PDF; its fixing up the limitations within Flash. As much as I would like to see Apollo succeed, I am not convinced until Adobe start actually treating *NIX customers (Solaris and Linux) like first class citizens.
Apollo however has one added bonus; it can be a stand alone application outside of a web browser; so it actually can act as a complete tool to write applications for rather than just small applications. In an ideal world Adobe would make Apollo players for Linux, MacOS X, Windows, Solaris and *BSD; they would port all their applications to Apollo and let the marketplace of operating systems compete based on which is superior rather than which has the applications available on it.
True, and Mono works with Solaris along with Linux and FreeBSD. If Microsoft concerntrate on the services they can provide rather than whether it is being run on a Windows platform - I think they would find there will be quite a number of non-Windows users happy to pay for those Microsoft services. Unfortunately, however, Microsoft does have a habit of being an asshole when it comes to the success of their technologies on another platform.
Member since:2006-07-04
"For Microsoft they will have to do the same but unlike Sun which JavaFX alread uses the standard run time environment, it will require instalation of .NET framework (which is a hefty download) as well as the plugin required - unless of course they're willing to pay OEM's to pre-install it."
Silverlight doesn't run on the .NET framework, per se. The Silverlight plugin has its own .NET framework, which is anywhere from 2 to 4MB. It includes the whole CLR, but stripped down versions of the .NET libraries. It also includes the DLR (dynamic language runtime). So it's not really a "hefty download", not any more so than Flash or JVM.
And MS doesn't need to pay anyone ro pre-install it. When visiting a web page with a Silverlight object, if Silverlight isn't installed, the user is presented with at "Click here to install Silverlight" graphic.
The advantage of Silverlight is that it can use MSIL byte code compiled from any .NET language, or can use IronRuby, IronPython, Javascript, and VBx (dynamic VB) textual source code.
Edited 2007-08-14 22:33
Member since:
2005-07-06
Not true; there ae many technologies that are not cross platform and yet have a large marketshare. What dictates the success or failure of a given technology are the tools used in the creation of products based on the technology.
For instance, Windows might not be the sexiest platform in the world, but their developer tools are second to none, and coupled with the good documentation, good developer support - little wonder that, besides marketshare, people flock to using Microsoft development tools over Borland or Code Warrior.
What will decide the outcome is whether firstly Sun pulls finger and produces an easy to use JavaFX creation tool for the non-technically minded that is equal if not easy to use as Flash and Shockwave. For Microsoft they will have to do the same but unlike Sun which JavaFX alread uses the standard run time environment, it will require instalation of .NET framework (which is a hefty download) as well as the plugin required - unless of course they're willing to pay OEM's to pre-install it.