And the war goes on, another battle rages…

Microsoft Silverlight

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Silverlight

The Wikipedia page for Microsoft’s Silverlight online media platform was filled with scripting terms and technical jargon. Fortunately all of these terms were hyperlinked and the definitions were easily accessible. I found in-depth information as to the video formats Silverlight is able to decode and also some idea as to how difficult it is to develop using the Silverlight framework. This Wiki was originally created by the ”’Windows Presentation Foundation” and since, hundreds of changes have been made by many different individuals (not just Microsoft employees).

A few weeks ago while surfing the open web, I came across a site that alerted me that Microsoft’s web video solution- Silverlight was no longer in its testing stage. While this shouldn’t have come as a surprise, I was anxious to test it out and see if it is competition for Adobe’s Flash Video products. I quickly found that a Wikipedia page offers a very valuable resource for doing informal research. Two sites that were suggested on the Silverlight wiki were the Hard Rock Cafe and NBC’s Bejing Olympics Site.

I was quite impressed with the Wiki. It offered just enough knowledge about the product for me to decide that Silverlight is a major competitor to Flash because it is cross-platform (Mac+Windows and soon- Linux), amazingly designable, and supports high-definition VC-1 streams and soon it will also support H.264(Quicktime Video). Another advantage to Silverlight for some companies is it includes a Digital Rights Management component which limits users access to content which has been downloaded to their computer. I expected this article to be pro-Microsoft and in some aspects it was, all-in-all though it offered a fair analysis.

Another article I found in my quest was in the Wall Street Journal European Edition in December of 2008. The article was titled: Microsoft targets Adobe in Web design — Software titan uses its muscle to lure rival’s core Flash customers over to competing Silverlight technology.

This article boldface’s the rivalry that is now raging between Adobe and Microsoft for the leading web media platform. The abstract states that “Adobe’s Flash player is installed on about 98% of Internet-connected PCs, and Silverlight is only installed on about 25%, according to Adobe and Microsoft”. It also makes the point that many web designers do not like Microsoft and will therefore be less likely to develop content for Silverlight. Further, Microsoft has offered many companies such as CBS sweetheart deals which include things like free development and support.

The Wiki seemed to only cover the technical portion of Silverlight and left out some of the types of things I was looking for such as where Microsoft is sitting in regards to profits. I was impressed with the way all of the terms I needed to understand the article were hyperlinked and how much technical data was listed about the platform.

Many readers depend on the Wall Street Journal to help predict all kinds of markets. For this reason I expected a highly critical article such as the one I found. Both of these articles were credible yet together they provided a much more thorough understanding than either could have done on their own. Without first reading the Wiki I would have had a hard time understanding exactly why Silverlight is competing with Flash and what the benefits of Silverlight are.

Works Cited:
Microsoft Silverlight. (2009, February 13). In Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. Retrieved 06:01, February 13, 2009, from http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Microsoft_Silverlight&oldid=270377606

Ben Worthen (2008, December 18). Microsoft targets Adobe in Web design — Software titan uses its muscle to lure rival’s core Flash customers over to competing Silverlight technology. Wall Street Journal  (Europe),  p. 4.  Retrieved February 13, 2009, from ProQuest Newsstand database. (Document ID: 1613896251).