Linked by Thom Holwerda on Thu 12th Feb 2009 08:05 UTC, submitted by poundsmack
Novell's Miguel de Icaza has announced on his blog that Moonlight has hit the 1.0 milestone. Moonlight is the open source implementation of Microsoft's Silverlight technology, a framework similar to Adobe's Flash. Silverlight has already been used during the Olympic Games and President Obama's inauguration for streaming those events across the internet.
Thread beginning with comment 348605
To view parent comment, click here.
To read all comments associated with this story, please click here.
To view parent comment, click here.
To read all comments associated with this story, please click here.
RE[5]: Let's get real here
by segedunum on Fri 13th Feb 2009 11:47
in reply to "RE[4]: Let's get real here"
Member since:2005-07-06
You seem to be extremely confused.
You're either exceptionally confused about the reality of the situation or you really, really, really want to sweep this under the carpet.
Silverlight content authors do not target a codec implementation, they write Silverlight applications that may or may not use encoded audio/video (which would be in wmv, mp3, etc).
That's a not-so-very-clever way of saying absolutely nothing, and it's neither here nor there that Silverlight applications 'may or may not' use encoded audio or video. Silverlight is a multimedia plugin, and as such, you're going to encounter lots of multimedia content. It's really great and all if we 'don't have to use Windows Media', but it's not so great when no audio or video comes out as expected. The difference between working and not working is very fine.
It really doesn't matter if only a proportion of Silverlight applications use Windows Media. The reality is that the relevance of Moonlight is dependant on you being able to take whatever a Silverlight application might throw at you - now and in the future. The reality of that is that within Silverlight development tools Windows Media is the path of least resistance, and it really doesn't matter how many other formats such as MP3 that you throw in there to make it sound less of a dependency.
Moonlight is needed because Silverlight isn't a video player plugin, it's an RIA framework which just happens to include audio and video playback.
So what? Silverlight is a plugin intended for multimedia and it doesn't change the reality of the situation or what Moonlight will have to deal with to stay relevant.
Just because a Silverlight application uses wmv doesn't mean you, as a Moonlight user, are limited to having to use the Microsoft codec blob - in fact, we Moonlight developers used the FFmpeg codec implementation.......
How long can that last? How are free software platform users and developers going to keep up? You are always a second class citizen in that scenario. Yes, the reality is that people have to jump through hoops today to deal with many media formats on free platforms, but we certainly do not want to perpetuate the situation and make it worse. Some of the arguments around Moonlight effectively say "We have to deal with these codecs today so it's no different", which is laughable.
If you want to view the content, you have to use Moonlight or reboot to Windows and watch it using Silverlight.
I'm afraid the reality is that we will increasingly need to reboot into Windows as Microsoft starts dragging its heels.
Your choice.
Not much of a choice really, is it?
If Moonlight didn't exist, you wouldn't have a choice at all.
Well yes we would, because we wouldn't have to discuss Moonlight helping Microsoft build market share for a plugin in search of a problem, and them then cutting our choices and air supply off over time as they have done so often over the years. This time they are attempting to do it to the web - yet again.
Seriously, you guys worry me. Do you not think about whether always following another company is the right thing to do, do you not think about other alternatives available to you and do you not think about the wellbeing of the free software platforms you say that you are helping? You speak about Silverlight, which currently has little real usage, as some kind of inevitability.
Recent Original Stories
Recent Comments
Headlines
Random Comments
Random Stories
Random OS Link
Member since:
2007-06-21
It really doesn't matter. The reference implementation is Silverlight, that's what developers will be writing for and Silverlight will use Microsoft's codecs. You will then be sucked along in having to support them, if you want to be relevant to your users.
Think about it. If you didn't have to use Microsoft's codes then why is there a need for Moonlight at all? Either you can't see this or you've had a major injection of denial. "
You seem to be extremely confused.
Silverlight content authors do not target a codec implementation, they write Silverlight applications that may or may not use encoded audio/video (which would be in wmv, mp3, etc).
Moonlight is needed because Silverlight isn't a video player plugin, it's an RIA framework which just happens to include audio and video playback.
Just because a Silverlight application uses wmv doesn't mean you, as a Moonlight user, are limited to having to use the Microsoft codec blob - in fact, we Moonlight developers used the FFmpeg codec implementation throughout most of the development effort for Moonlight 1.0.
Alas, the content that users will want to view with Moonlight will not ;-). "
If you want to view the content, you have to use Moonlight or reboot to Windows and watch it using Silverlight.
Your choice.
If Moonlight didn't exist, you wouldn't have a choice at all.