Silverlight vs. Adobe Flash
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Which multimedia plug-in offers the best experience for web developers looking to add animation and video to their web sites, Adobe's Flash or Microsoft's Silverlight? And which one offers the best experience for the end user? This article takes a look at the rivalry and considers the strengths and weaknesses of each.
It's has always been apparent that Microsoft's Silverlight was intended to be the IT giant's answer to Flex, and most obviously -- Adobe. Originally, Silverlight manipulated its multimedia interface through the use of JavaScript.
The newly-released Silverlight 3.0, however, is not only more advanced than previous versions, but also now enables mobile device support, among other things. Some returning -- though improved -- characteristics also include animation, vector graphics, and audio-video playback that characterize rich Internet applications.
For as long as it's been in existence, Microsoft has developed, manufactured, licensed, and supported a wide range of software products for computers, with the most profitable products being the Microsoft Windows operating system and the Microsoft Office suite software. Adobe, on the other hand, has historically focused upon the creation of multimedia and creativity software products, with a more-recent foray into rich Internet application software development.
All of this is just to say that Adobe and Microsoft never really had reason to cross each other's paths -- that is of course, until Microsoft essentially invaded Adobe territory by creating their own version of a multimedia plug-in.
The rivalry was never too out of control, not even after a minor controversy erupted in February of this year regarding some comments Adobe made about Silverlight. An Adobe executive publicly stated that Silverlight had "fizzled" as a competitor to Adobe's Flash.
In his blog, Tim Sneath, director of the Windows and Silverlight technical evangelism team, accused Adobe Executive Vice President and CFO Mark Garrett of "living in a fantasy world" for believing that Silverlight adoption was waning. "The idea that Silverlight is in anything other than rude health is more to do with what Adobe would like to be the case, rather than what actually is the case," he wrote in the blog posting. "The suggestion that 'Silverlight adoption has fizzled out in the last 6-9 months' is pretty risible, in fact. For starters, Silverlight 2 shipped four months ago, and in just the first month of its availability, we saw over 100 million successful installations just on consumer machines. That doesn't sound like 'fizzling out' to me."
For a few months it was quiet and it seemed to be smooth sailing between the two camps -- until spring erupted in April and baseball season rolled in.
Next: MLB's Video Player Strikes out on Opening Day >>
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