No subject

Flash-like content using familiar tools and workflow with much less of a
learning curve than Flash.
If you ask a designer to give their opinion on Silverlight then you will
likely get a much different response, since the tools really do require the
developer mindset, and don't integrate with the designers workflow as
nicely.

Flash integrates nicely with Adobe's suite of design tools (monopoly aside,
they really are industry standard), and for the developers you have the raw
power of ActionScript 3 and the Flex Builder (Eclipse) IDE. It can get a bit
costly though if you do use Adobe's tools, but there is nothing to stop you
using FOSS alternatives.

The key difference between the two is maturity - Flash has been around for
years so its embedded in the workflows/skills of many designers, it has a
very developed featureset, strong community and most importantly massive
reach with the Flash player itself. Adobe claim 99.9% penetration (I'd say
its probably closer to 90%, with most on the latest version, after examining
my web logs).

Silverlight on the other hand has nowhere near the install base or the
maturity. Its plugin still seems very 'beta' and unstable on non-IE
browsers. In addition, the core framework is still missing lots of features
which Flash developers have been accustomed to for years (that said, it does
address many of the limitations which Flash developers have been moaning
about for years!).

ESPN used Silverlight for their online olympics coverage, but recently
switched back to Flash for their normal sports stuff citing issues with the
Silverlight plug-in (either users not having it, or it not working). This
could certainly be signs of user resistance.

In my opinion, its going to be a long time before it becomes a serious
choice for a web site unless you have a serious technical reason for
choosing it over Flash, and also that whatever you are building is
compelling enough to get the user to download/install the plugin.



On Thu, Sep 25, 2008 at 3:31 AM, paul perrin <paul at idltd.com> wrote:

> Silverlight is so straight forward to develop/use (quite a steep initial
> learning curve, but once that is out the way...) that I can't imagine using
> flash instead (unless it really can't be avoided)...
>
> Anyone know the market penetration? and (more importantly) user resistance
> to installing it?
>
> From the users PoV there is no obvious reason not to have plug in
> (developers may have to choose flash vs silverlight, but user dont).
>
> Apart from the initial learning curve (although flash is probably as bad,
> if
> not worse - but better supported with how-to books etc), the development
> tools that I have seen (I have had nothing to do with flex) win hands down
> in use, and silverlight easily wiins on cost for developers !!.
>
> Paul /)/+)
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