[Macworld]

Post your comments for Microsoft lashes out at Adobe over Silverlight comments here

[spacest]

both should make way for css3

[wolfhow1]

If Silverlight was used during the inauguration on MSNBC, it is truly another piece of crapware from Microsoft. The streaming was interrupted with a freeze every 20 seconds, rendering one of the most moving pieces of American History into an unwatchable mess not even fit for kinescope. It was an abomination.

[Stormchild]

spacest said:

both should make way for css3

+ HTML5 (adds elements for UI of media players, in hopes of eliminating Flash-based video/audio players as well).

Couldn't agree more. I won't be happy till we've eradicated all browser plugins.

[maflynn]

Meh, just adobe trying to spread FUD and Microsoft trying to convince people that silverlight is an alternative to flash. I categorize both comments as propaganda. I've been on sites that use silverlight and of course flash. Both work, the question then is, which evil company do you want to deal with ;)

[zarmanto]

The problem as I see it is that the primary purposes of each of these technologies is to benefit developers and not end users. Flash is most commonly used for?.... Advertisements! Silverlight is most commonly used for?... DRM! Thus, the reality is that their "market share" has practically nothing to do with how many end-users actually install their plug-in, but rather it has more to do with how many high-profile "we-can't-live-without-you!" websites chose to adopt their technologies. Because regardless of whether or not you like or dislike either company... odds are, you're going to end up wanting to view the content of websites that use both technologies at one point or another.

Frankly, I'd be perfectly happy to do away with both of them.

[dreamingwell]

RIAStats.com has unbiased real-world statistics on Flash and Silverlight plugin deployments. You can even add the RIAStats script to your site to get a personalized report about your visitors.

[spim]

heh ... good point above about reasons they both exist in browsers
I myself have downloaded and installed Silverlight.
and the only placed it is used is so I can use my Mac Mini (my entertainment center) with Netflix streamed movies (DRM)

[chasd]

" we saw over 100 million successful installations just on consumer machines. "
I wonder how many unsuccessful installations there were ;)
That quote is interesting because it specifies consumer machines. Clearly Microsoft is focused on consumer adoption which is no longer its home court.
I have always thought Silverlight made the best sense in corporate Intranets where you can take full advantage of the entire Microsoft software stack. "Lackluster" Silverlight adoption for Intranets means Microsoft is getting beat on its home court.
To overextend my analogy :
Sportscaster : "How come you lost all those home games ?"
Microsoft : "We aren't losing away games by as much as you think !"
( Sportscaster has blank look. )
Sportcaster : "OK. Why isn't your shooting percentage good in away games ?"
Microsoft : "We had over 10 successful baskets !"
Chasd.

[jamus]

"Silverlight 2 shipped four months ago", yet didn't the Silverlight 1.0 equivalent (Moonlight) for Linux just ship yesterday? Hmmmm. What happened to all that cross platform love we were supposed to see when M$ first trotted out Silverlight? What about Silverlight content creation tools? Oh, yeah...
I think the vast majority of their Silverlight install numbers are purely from hook or crook. The majority of our users installed it "because Microsoft told us we had to". If you go to microsoft.com without Silverlight installed you get a popup that tends to push the non-technicals into installing their plugin. So does Windows update. They make it look like to get updates, you must install Silverlight. You do have to, but to most non-IT personnel it appears that way. I can't even tell you how many times I have told Silverlight to stay hidden in Windows update, but somehow it still keeps showing up in the list time and time again.
Don't even get me started on the whole Olympics fiasco. You want Olympics coverage? Then download Silverlight so we can have more stat numbers. Sure there were some other ways to view it online, but Silverlight was the method pushed down the population's collective throat.
M$ really needs to back off the the pushing and tricking to get it installed. As of now the ONLY reason I may install it (other than my early test installs to see how it is) is to get the Netflix streaming option.
All that said, I have to give credit that I was very surprised when I did the Win 7 Beta and found out that Silverlight was not preloaded into it. I have to give them applause for that. I felt for sure based on their other marketing tactics it would be there no matter what, but they left it out and as an optional install if the user chooses to get it. Of course, it still shows up in Windows update, again, and again, and again...

[PFXFV]

I just love how indignant MS gets over negative comments about it's fledgling and sometimes failing products. Steve Balmer makes these kinds of comments consistently, yet most people seem to ignore him despite the fact that he leads one of the most successful and powerful companies in the world, if not in history. For example, MS defends Zune, a product in the failing stage, using the most inane logic that you wonder how MS remains so dominant. (Please spare us the "Microsoft is on its way out" responses. It's just way too fanboyish even for this crowd.)

[ARM]

I wouldn't mind it as much if Silverlight 2 was actually compatible with PowerPC Macs, but it isn't, so Silverlight is effectively preventing me from viewing a portion of content I want on the Net, which is why I still prefer Flash over it.

[reallycrazy]

bq. "I think the vast majority of their Silverlight install numbers are purely from hook or crook"


Adobe AIR installs are like this as well. They bundle it into Adobe Reader, and force it to be installed (no option to not install, not even a "We are installing AIR for our own benefit now"). You have to uninstall it afterwards, IF you notice it was installed.

Why do both sides need to lie to their end-users to get them to install these so-called "superior" solutions?

[sebuchen]

Here's my thinking on Micro$oft's SilverCrap... As soon as everyone gets used to using it and the internet has nothing but SilverCrap on it, then M$ will stop developing it for the Mac or any other platform. No thanks M$. I will NEVER install this POS on my computer. Any site that is SilverCrap only will never be visited by me again. Why should I ever trust them again after they stopped development of Internet Explorer for Mac? Nope, not happening. They can shove SilverCrap where the sun don't shine.