Comments on: Will Silverlight really kill Flash?

By: James

James — Wed, 27 Jun 2007 07:11:14 +0000

Silverlight does have one secret weapon – automatic updates.

I’m pretty sure that the silverlight plugin is available on ‘em, whereas Flash plugins have to deal with 14 ‘are you sure you want to let me install this plugin’ messages on Vista. Microsoft can gain a following by making their plugin significantly easier to get installed, and kill off Flash that way.

But it’s true, the major drive for the flash comes from content being produced with it, and not the other way around. And I can’t see anything in Silverlight that I don’t already have the know-how for with Flash / Flex / AIR…

By: Jonathan

Jonathan — Mon, 25 Jun 2007 12:09:58 +0000

@Kalle - Very true, and as it stands, the demos on the Silverlight site are amateurish and lackluster, which does little to help their cause. Although, I recently saw a talk by Shane Morris, a Microsoft's "Experience Evangelist", where he demonstrated a real-time video editing application built in Silverlight which was much more impressive. But for Silverlight to win over Flash designers its applications will need to be more than just impressive, they will need to knock people's socks off.

By: Kalle

Kalle — Mon, 25 Jun 2007 10:31:27 +0000

In order for Sliverlight to even compete against Flash, it has to be “gurufied” and companies like 2Advanced and other Flash-using web agencies have to start using it. Silverlight has to attract the designers if Microsoft wants to succeed.

Microsoft said that Vista would be a “wow”-experience, which it surely wasn’t, so I don’t believe them the slightest bit when they call Silverlight a Flash-killer.

By: Jermayn Parker

Jermayn Parker — Sun, 24 Jun 2007 03:42:03 +0000

I have not heard much about Silverlight but in regards to whole killing off Flash I agree and do not think so.

Like virb and the others, for it to kill of their competitors (myspace, flash etc) they need to offer better and feature more to kill off their competitors.