14 DAY TRIAL // As far as multimedia experiences and rich interactive applications for the web go, until now Adobe's Flash has become the general standard. With an install base rather the same size as that of the Windows operating system, Flash is nothing short of ubiquitous. But Microsoft also has something up its sleeve, namely Silverlight. Although positioned from the get-go as an alternative to Adobe Flash, Silverlight is still a young technology, still having a lot to prove and not much elbow room to grow. But at the same time, Microsoft can leverage its extensive Internet infrastructure, as well as put its evangelism wheels into motion courting web developers, in order to push Silverlight to Windows, Mac OS X and Linux users (Linux support is in the works for the cross-browser, cross-platform plug-in).
One way for the Redmond company to gain the upper hand against Flash is to serve the plug-in via Windows Update, or even better automatically through AU, as an update for the operating system. While Microsoft has indicated no plans to do so, a first step in this direction is scheduled for January 22th.
"We are also excited to announce a new product named Silverlight, is being made available to Microsoft Update site and WSUS customers Tuesday, January 22nd! The Silverlight product family will include installers and updates for the Silverlight browser plug-in for Microsoft Internet Explorer and Mozilla Firefox, enabling simplified delivery of media and rich Internet applications that blend animation, audio/video, and interactivity," revealed a member of the Microsoft Update product team.
At the end of November 2007, Microsoft moved Silverlight from version 1.1 to 2.0. The new product number is just a label revamping as of yet, but the first public release will drop at MIX08 in March. WSUS servers will deliver the Silverlight 1.0 installer, which will also be made available via the Microsoft Update website. The Redmond company informed that Silverlight 1.0 would be offered as an optional update to all Windows XP SP2 and Windows Server 2003 users.
"WSUS Admins, this new product family will appear in the 'Products and Classification' selection dialog of your Microsoft Windows Server Update Services (WSUS) server, so be sure to select it if you want the Silverlight 1.0 installer to synchronize down to your server. The Silverlight 1.0 installer, will be classified as a 'feature pack' for WSUS (so, you'll need to be sure you have that classification selected too), and will require EULA acceptance before approving to targeted managed clients," added the MU team member.