Breaking News: CFOs increasingly involved in IT investment decisions

ZDNet / News / Software

Microsoft de-emphasizes Silverlight at Mix11

By Jay Greene , CNET News on April 13, 2011 

 

Summary

Software giant ramps up its support for HTML5 as the best way to create advanced graphics on the Web.

Topics

technology, science and technology, microsoft corporation, internet browsers, internet, html5, web programming, tim o'brien, computer technology, software operating systems

Events

Echelon 2012
June 11 and 12, 2012

University Cultural Centre, National University of Singapore

Startup Asia Jakarta 2012
June 7 and 8, 2012

12th Floor, Annex Building, Wisma Nusantara Complex, Jl. M.H. Thamrin No. 59 Jakarta 10350, Indonesia

MMA Forum Singapore
April 23-25, 2012

Grand Hyatt Singapore

Submit

LAS VEGAS--As Microsoft works to woo Web developers to its tools, it is subtly trying to wean them from one product that the company once touted as the answer to advanced graphics development: Silverlight.

The first day of Microsoft's Mix11 conference here, the company's annual gathering of Web developers, included demonstrations and talk about HTML5, the emerging Web standard. HTML5's promise is to make developing Web applications that use video and animation easy, much the same thing for which Microsoft created Silverlight.

But Silverlight was largely missing in action. The technology was never mentioned in either of the keynote speeches by Dean Hachamovitch, corporate vice president of Internet Explorer, and Scott Guthrie, corporate vice president of Microsoft's .NET Developer Platform.

In debuting a preview version of Internet Explorer 10, Hachamovitch played up its support for HTML5, demonstrating smooth graphics programs loading quickly from the Web, like the new multi-level Pac-Man application, built by Namco for the 30th anniversary of the game.

Microsoft has been de-emphasizing Silverlight for several months now. As veteran Microsoft watcher Mary Jo Foley noted at the company's Professional Developers Conference in October, Silverlight started falling off the radar. Just last week, Microsoft played up Silverlight's role as a browser plug-in, which, in turn, demoted its role as the key platform for advanced Web graphics.

The reason, according to Tim O'Brien, a general manager in Microsoft's platform strategy group, is that HTML5 has evolved and addresses many of the technical issues that are core to Silverlight.

"The things that are driving this shift are the market dynamics," O'Brien said. As the standard evolves, it becomes easier for developers to create applications for it. And writing for the standard means that the application will run more widely than writing for a plug-in such as Silverlight.

Silverlight still has its place, O'Brien said. It offers support for digital rights management, and handles Smooth Streaming, which speeds video start times. "There is no single answer for all programming tasks," O'Brien said. And tomorrow at Mix11, Microsoft plans to roll out the beta version of Silverlight 5.

But it also seems clear that Microsoft is placing an ever-larger bet on HTML5. The company disclosed that its next Professional Developers Conference will be September 13-16 in Anaheim, Calif. For Microsoft, the PDC is a stake-in-the-ground event where the company lays out a broad vision for its vast developer community to follow. The September PDC will likely be the place where the company shares details for its upcoming Windows 8 operating system. Expect HTML5 to be play a role there as well. "We're going to place more emphasis on HTML5," O'Brien said.

 

Talkback

Silverlight was all MS talked about at the firestarter event in December, and the Silverlight stuff is coming on day 2 of the Mix keynotes....keep up

lookitskris April 13, 2011
Add your opinion

In order to post a comment, you need to be registered. (Sign In or register below)

Post your comment

Resource Centre Useful content from our premier sponsors

Latest Stories

Experience trumps content in apps monetization

Malaysia offers manufacturing benefits over China

Value of big data analytics largely untapped

So.cl's approach 'cautious', to face hurdles in market

SingTel acquires HungryGoWhere for $9.4M

ZDNet Asia Live

SingTel (All) SingTel acquires HungryGoWhere for $9.4M ZDNet Asia News http://t.co/QuzQio2Z

Intranets need social to survive http://t.co/pdOHvgBP #intranet #socialintranet #intranet20

Fanboys on AV for Mac: "ludicrous" "a waste of time" "The Mac will protect me" "the most secure ever" "impenetrable" http://t.co/a1o2Sz7E

RT @ameliatmy: the hottest angel investment & venture capital event in #MALAYSIA! will u be there? http://t.co/ChSjkmzu #ABAF

Singapore Game Box in the ZDnet news!
http://t.co/UuTs0SqX http://t.co/YdPKmm39

#radio Radio Bolivia by EnjoyIT 1.0 http://t.co/fdlBPOeI

RT @zdnetasia: SingTel acquires HungryGoWhere for US$9.4 million. http://t.co/Qho1REVZ

Gartner: Mobile CRM gives better ROI than social - http://t.co/s5OfTAXK #CRM

RT @zdnetasia: S'pore sets up portal to grow games sector. http://t.co/In8gtj7L

#Malaysia: 20% yoy rise in overall #wages for both direct and non-direct labor. http://t.co/5T2e0LUU

RT @mikebuetow: #Malaysia: 20% yoy rise in overall #wages for both direct and non-direct labor. http://t.co/5T2e0LUU

@88tc88 RT @KevinZDNetAsia: User experience more important to app monetization than actual content http://t.co/ogbD5wyI… #li #dm12

Dubbed the first social #Olympics, this year's summer games have some of the strictest social rules for all involved http://t.co/4HlcqhW3

Value of big data analytics largely untapped - Zd Net http://t.co/ZuhPrCN4: Pushing cloud limits for d... http://t.co/VyOU0vHz #TheBIBlog

Value of big data analytics largely untapped http://t.co/026PCpSc @zdnetasia

So much as we know , MTK6575 extremely integrated frequency1GHz ARM Cortex-A9 processor, the superiority of 3G / HSPA Modem, and help the...

15 hours ago by y15822137359 on 5 SaaS adoption speed bumps to avoid

I reckon your view: "CRM is strategy, not software", if a company replicating the approach uses in ERP implementation into CRM, what they...

1 day ago by wykoong on Gartner: Mobile CRM gives better ROI than social

This video will teach you about the Excel fill handle but also provide you with a workook to download... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=...

2 days ago by TradeBrother on A quick fill handle trick for Microsoft Excel

waiting...

4 days ago by eapete on What should count in a company's market value?

Boy, you've opened a can of worms now.

Wait for the rants & raves.

4 days ago by eapete on What should count in a company's market value?

I was puzzling before this whether to replicate the success formula we executed for a financial institute, and come out with a standard s...

4 days ago by wykoong on Drop the egos, copy ideas, then innovate

Keep up with ZDNet Asia

Facebook Join our fan page

RSS Feeds Subscribe now

NewslettersNewsletters Subscribe today

Twitter Follow us