14 DAY TRIAL // Microsoft remains committed to what it calls an important and strategic technology for the company promising that the next version of Silverlight is being developed and that it will be served to the public.
Following the 2010 Professional Developers Conference (PDC 2010) in Redmond, various press sites started reporting that Microsoft’s focus has shifted from Silverlight to HTML5.
Bob Muglia, President of the Server and Tools Division at Microsoft notes that this could not be further from the truth.
“I said several things that I want to emphasize: 1.Silverlight is very important and strategic to Microsoft.
“2.We’re working hard on the next release of Silverlight, and it will continue to be cross-browser and cross-platform, and run on Windows and Mac.
“3.Silverlight is a core application development platform for Windows, and it’s the development platform for Windows Phone.”
A release date for the successor of Silverlight 4.0 which was delivered earlier this year has yet to be announced. Still, judging by past releases of Silverlight, Microsoft is bound to deliver the next iteration sometime in 2011.
At the same time, chances are that Silverlight 4 will be replaced by Silverlight 5.0, although this aspect remains unconfirmed by the Redmond company.
Muglia did acknowledge that he indeed emphasized the fact that Microsoft’s Silverlight strategy and focus going forward has shifted.
“This isn’t a negative statement, but rather, it’s a comment on how the industry has changed and how we’re adapting our Silverlight strategy to take advantage of that,” he explained.
Muglia assured, yet again, that Silverlight was never designed to kill HTML. At the start of September 2010, Brad Becker, Director of Product Management, Developer Platforms was noting that the future is bright for both Silverlight and HTML5.
The two technologies can not only coexist, but also complement each other. Muglia emphasized that Microsoft will not leave the estimated 600,000 Silverlight developers hang out to dry, and that the company will continue to invest in this technology.
The shift that the President of the Server and Tools Division was talking about, also involves leveraging Silverlight for development projects that HTML5 is not suited to.
Muglia also exemplifies a few scenarios:
“- Customers are demanding the richest possible client experiences, and developers are increasingly looking to build premium, tailored experiences optimized for specific devices. Silverlight provides the richest way to build Web-delivered client apps.
- Customers want to be able to deliver client experiences that are optimized for specific form factors. Silverlight provides a rich UI framework that enables smooth animations and lends itself very well to touch input and embedded devices.
- Media delivery across the Internet continues to accelerate dramatically. Customers want HD, studio quality, premium media content. Silverlight has and will continue to be a pioneering technology that makes it possible to deliver the best media experiences anywhere.
- Lastly, there has been massive growth in the breadth and diversity of devices made by a wide variety of vendors providing both open and closed systems.”
Internet Explorer 9 (IE9) Beta and Platform Preview 6 are available for download here.
Silverlight 4 RTW is available for download here.