[thelist] MS Silverlight

[Billy Reisinger]

I respectfully disagree, Shawn.  I think it is clear that Microsoft  
sees Flash video as a threat (look at Google video, YouTube, Yahoo  
video, etc).  They want to compete.
I agree that their last offering, i.e. Windows Media Player, was for  
all purposes locked to IE/Win (if you wanted to use the activex  
controls, i.e. do anything interesting like custom controls).  But I  
think this time it's different - they need windows media video to  
compete in the web market because they are losing out to Flash.  THe  
only thing they got left on the web video platform is livestream  
video.  WMV livestream encoders are much easier to come by than  
Flash; the technology is much more mature and stable.  But for on- 
demand video, it is clear that Flash is a much better platform for  
publishing based on the fact that it is more widely supported and  
better compressed than WMV.

On May 25, 2007, at 8:03 PM, Shawn K. Quinn wrote:

> On Thu, 2007-05-24 at 17:30 +0300, Fred Jones wrote:
>> MS Silverlight:
>>
>> "Silverlight is a cross-browser, cross-platform plug-in for  
>> delivering
>> the next generation of Microsoft .NET–based media experiences and  
>> rich
>> interactive applications for the Web." [1]
>
> Microsoft says "cross-browser, cross-platform". What Microsoft really
> means is "we'll make the version for IE on Windows, everyone else  
> is on
> their own, and will probably forever be at least a version behind".  
> I'm
> not sure I even want to find out what kind of nasty patent restriction
> minefield Microsoft has laid for alternative Silverlight
> implementations; it would not surprise me to find out that a free
> software version of Silverlight is impossible due to same.
>
> The "media experiences and rich interactive applications" seem to  
> imply
> this is yet another vector for mostly garbage like most current Flash
> movies. (Translation: Microsoft has now gotten a Round Tuit with  
> regard
> to running Adobe out of that part of the market.)
>
> -- 
> Shawn K. Quinn <skquinn at speakeasy.net>
>
> -- 
>
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