Microsoft Unleashes Adobe Flash Killer

Microsoft Silverlight is, in the Redmond Company's perspective, the solution that will power the next generation of media experiences on the web and also a direct competitor to the ubiquitous Adobe Flash technology. While gunning down for Adobe Flash, Microsoft has ensured that Silverlight will enjoy from the get go support from leading media companies and solution providers. Akamai Technologies Inc., Brightcove Inc., Eyeblaster Inc., Limelight Networks, Major League Baseball and Netflix Inc. are among the names enumerated by Microsoft that will help with the Silverlight's adoption.

"Content providers are seeking a way to deliver rich interactive applications using the tools and skills they already have. They want an end-to-end solution that enables them to rapidly reach multiple platforms with reasonable deployment costs," said Bob Muglia, senior vice president of the Server and Tools Business at Microsoft. "Microsoft Silverlight delivers on this need and marks a real step forward for the industry. Silverlight is the only solution in the market today that enables content creators to tap into the broad ecosystem for Windows Media technologies while taking the Web’s rich interactive application experience to new levels."

Silverlight is by no means a new technology. It has, in fact, been around for a while, only that it was dubbed Windows Presentation Foundation Everywhere (WPF/E). Microsoft's "new cross-browser, cross-platform plug-in for delivering the next generation of media experiences and rich interactive applications (RIAs) for the Web" was unveiled at the 2007 National Association of Broadcasters conference (NAB2007).

Essentially, Silverlight is nothing more than a lightweight subset of XAML designed for integrating online rich media experiences. In this regard, Microsoft has not focused only on Windows, but also on Macintosh. According to the Redmond Company, Silverlight delivers support for both Mac and Windows browsers such as Internet Explorer, Firefox and Safari.

"We’ve consistently heard from the media companies that they want the ability to easily implement key technologies for Internet video and rich broadband experiences," said Bob Mason, chief technology officer at Brightcove. "With the release of Silverlight, Microsoft is bringing rich interactive experiences coupled with the VC-1 video standard into the browser, and we’re excited to announce plans to support this technology and continue to give our customers access to the cutting-edge technologies that will drive the growth of Internet TV."

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