back to article Fans roast Microsoft for Silverlight demotion

Microsoft is facing a wave of disbelief and anger from Windows programmers after saying that it is demoting the would-be Flash-killer Silverlight for HTML5. Server and tools president Bob Muglia apologized for any "controversy and confusion" caused by comments in an interview last week, when he said that Microsoft has shifted …

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  1. Notas Badoff
    Flame

    HA ha ha haha Ha!

    Oh my, I'm laughing so hard I'm weeping. Schadenfreude? A bit. But mainly, the kind of "told you so" encapsulated by Santayana's "Those who cannot learn from history are doomed to repeat it."

    What Foley really needs to do is have a secret division that teaches a course on "What Microsoft has done to others (in the past) they will do to you (and sooner than you know)" and with so many possible examples, they could teach that course three years in a row without repeating.

    C'mon, remember OS/2? One columnist/author was so revolted by Microsoft's treachery he swore he would never write about their software again. Strange he had to crawl back and continue lapping up the squeezings?

    Remember the Win95 launch video? I know someone personally shafted by Microsoft because his company didn't think to *require* extensive mention of company name in their demo segment of the video. There went Win95 tooling down the road in his convertible sports car, wowing everyone with the drawing from his daughter showing up on the printer in the front seat. Oh, and his company went down a quite different road, to Flushville.

    Microsoft simply cannot be trusted. #1 because they are total mercenaries. #2 because they are (very often) completely clueless. The result is that you only think they are fighting alongside you, you then find their sword inside you. Or find that you were simply cannon-fodder.

    Trust only the product in front of you. Use it only if it is useful to you. If you depend on anything promised for the future, you'll be history sooner or later.

    1. Charles Manning

      Perhaps peopla are not that stupid

      MS made massive and ruthless inroads into the desktop (Windows + Office) in the pre-2000 era. They screwed over many value providers including Borland and Novell.

      Since then MS have really failed to get traction in any other markets/spaces except Xbox and are losing market share in their core business.

      Approx 5 years back, MS were pleading for other development suite/middleware people to enrich WinCE. Very few responded. Clearly many remembered how Borland and other middleware providers got screwed and knew the same would happen in WinCE space.

      The same is true of MS web development tools. Very few have picked those up.

      People no longer blindly trust MS.

      1. Anonymous Coward
        Headmaster

        Clarification

        Borland sucked in comparison to VS that's why they lost. While at the beginning they did have a better UI Design interface (beginning of the 90's) they stayed the same and microsoft innovated. And Office was better than Corel and other office processors. Office was back then the only user friendly and easy to understand office software. And it looked good too. Microsoft won in the 90's because they were good and innovative.

        A propos WinCE the problem is microsoft didn't get it that small portable devices are seen as personal by their users, a trend that goes to computers too (think about how important is a desktop wallpaper for you). And microsoft didn't take care to mentor the hardware producers in that direction. So they don't own the mobile market now (although my wife was very happy with her XDA with Windows Mobile on it between 2003-2006, she's a sxey geek though).

        "People no longer blindly trust microsoft". Well that's not bad for a start, but grown-ups should not trust blindly anyone in the technology field. At the moment you should choose the technology that best fits your internal IT landscape.

        1. Penguin herder
          Boffin

          RE: Clarification

          "Borland sucked in comparison to VS that's why they lost. While at the beginning they did have a better UI Design interface (beginning of the 90's) they stayed the same and microsoft innovated."

          I was there, and that's not how it went. Borland was, better than VS in nearly every way. Their problem was two fold: (1) they insisted on modifying C++ with vtables rather than using a simpler macro system as did MS; (2) they lied (apparently as a matter of corporate policy) in an attempt to whitewash bugs.

          So while technically MS might have been a better choice, it was only because Borland made foolish decisions and lied about bad news.

          1. Someone Else Silver badge
            Alert

            Oh, and did you forget...

            ...Undocumented Windows?!? You know, the secret APi that allowed visual studio's debugger ro work graphically, while specifically bre4aking Borland's much better debugger?

            I thought so...

        2. Spikey
          Jobs Horns

          living history versus reading about it

          Borland was head and shoulders above MS Visual C. MS Developers developed with it, using MS VC for the final compile, as there were hidden hooks in the MS flavor of the C compiler (withheld from Borland, of course). Do you want to mention the poaching MS did to Borland?

          Office better then Corel - I assume you mean Word Perfect? Once again, API's were withheld. If you'd actually experienced history instead of just read about it, you'd know this was a Big Deal.

          I agree with not blindly trusting, but I must say, past behavior must be taken into account too. Did I use Silverlight? No - as it is MS-only tech. Regardless of the tech, if it is MS-only, I avoid it.

          http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:Microsoft_criticisms_and_controversies

    2. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Regarding your #1 and #2

      What's that saying... never claim conspiracy where ineptitude will do?

      As much as I might dislike Microsoft, I just can't imagine they'd pee in the pool with their beloved developers. I can't see their demotion of Silverlight as a cost saving measure either. I think it's just another failure of the "hey would you download our plugin/platform to run this poor developer's app" model. Without a critical mass to incent ubiquitous adoption (like Flash) it just doesn't work so well.

      What gets me is why they thought it was a good idea to add another model like this into the mix. We already have Flash, Java, and .NET - why do we need another? Especially one that won't run on roughly half the platforms out there?

  2. Adam Williamson 1
    Stop

    sucker

    "Your comments (or at least the snippets that appeared in print) may have done irreparable damage to my career, and many others like myself that threw all of their eggs into the Silverlight basket."

    Sorry, mate, but the one to blame for your career getting wrecked because you put all your eggs in a basket over which you have precisely no control or influence - indeed, a basket over which only an entity which naturally has no regard for anything but its own perceived best interests has any control or influence at all - would be...you. Sucker.

    1. Sarah Bee (Written by Reg staff)

      Re: sucker

      Do you want to take this outside?

      1. Adam Williamson 1
        Terminator

        outside

        No, but my friend Geoff Peterson does.

      2. Gil Grissum
        Terminator

        Let's take it outside.

        By all means, let's take it outside. I've got my referee shirt on under my Polo.

    2. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      I second that

      "Your comments (or at least the snippets that appeared in print) may have done irreparable damage to my career, and many others like myself that threw all of their eggs into the Silverlight basket."

      Cry me a river. Looks like you could use some training in critical thinking - maybe at the same time as your HTML5 course, schmuck.

  3. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Seriously?

    Gavin,

    If you think this statement;

    "Clearly, Microsoft believes there's more to be had from having apps and content built using Microsoft tools and services than in continuing to push its own vision for a Flash-like player."

    seems to imply that Microsoft sees more value in building apps for someone else's platform than for its own.

    It seems hopelessly naive to think that's true of Microsoft.

  4. Tzael

    Not all bad (imo)

    I see this as an ideal opportunity for Moonlight to catch up with the official Silverlight implementation (Moonlight is currently Silverlight 2 compatible). In the meanwhile the main enhancements we'll see introduced to Silverlight will be aimed at mobile devices, ensuring developers can optimise certain features of their software for those devices.

    Silverlight is a viable technology for user interfaces and although Expression could do with further improvements to make life easier for some developers I personally don't think Silverlight needs any significant changes for a while.

    In my opinion Microsoft are doing the right thing, they're not abandoning Silverlight, they're simply giving developers an opportunity to become more familiar with its intricacies. At the same time they're ensuring that HTML 5 tools will be available for developers who want to take advantage of an open standard. As usual you can't please everyone all the time, fair play for trying though.

    1. Frumious Bandersnatch
      FAIL

      a chance for moonlight to catch up?

      Ha! That makes me laugh. "Oh look, Silverlight is reaching the end of the cul-de-sac. If we speed up now we might catch it!"

    2. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Can it do Netflix?

      Seriously, all I need to do is get Netflix running on Linux and I can ditch Win7 on my HTPC!

  5. Simon2
    FAIL

    Silverlight?

    If MS are going to use HTML5 open standards, what was the point of Silverlight in the first place?

    If they'd have open sourced it in the first place, maybe there wouldn't have be this problem.

    It looks as if they'll eventually just adandon it, having wasted millions (or how ever much it cost) of $.

    1. foxyshadis

      Look at the timetables

      Silverlight came out long before HTML5 was nailed down. At the time, there was no consensus on what features would go in or how, the one early implementation had to waste a lot of time cutting and reorganizing features as the spec evolved.

  6. Henry Wertz 1 Gold badge

    Silverlight pwnage and de facto standards

    Regrading Ross Wozniak and the "many others like myself that threw all of their eggs into the Silverlight basket."... really? How can this be any surprise whatsoever. Microsoft always, ALLLLWAAAYYYS hard sells and evangelizes almost everything they come out with, until they get distracted by something else. This has happened again and again and again, this new thing they've come up with? It's the best thing since sliced bread, absolutely the wave of the future and EVERYONE should use it. A couple years later, oh no that's legacy, I mean I guess you can use it if you have to, but there's this new thing you REALLY should be using, it's the best thing since sliced bread.

    This is why I prefer programming for Linux -- you can write a program and not only does it run 10 or 20 years later (Windows is OK about this too) but it'll be using pretty close to current best practices instead of being propped up by 3 or 4 generation old legacy cruft. POSIX (for base stuff), gtk (UI), SDL (2D gaming), OpenGL (3D), libavcodec (video and audio codec support)... there's gpsd handling all gps systems, libxml to handle XML, and so on. And if you prefer to use Ruby, or Python, or whatever, there'll be bindings to use these. I've been using Linux since 1994, so I've seen many of these develop.. POSIX was already an industry standard by then.. but what'll happen is, when the community decides to support some technology, several to numerous libraries will come out to do it, within about 6 months the best will float to the top by consensus, and development will focus on improving that further. This mostly avoids the situation of having to throw it all out and start over like Microsoft does so often.

    (Admittedly, regarding gtk, both gtk and Qt were and are used for UI programming pretty often. )

  7. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Tough breaks all around

    Too bad for all of the folks looking forward to the Silverlight gravy train. Better luck next time. My heart goes out to you, really, it does.

    OTOH, Looks like MS will have to E,E,E, HTML5

  8. RantyDave

    Aaaaaaaaand?

    What, Microsoft, ditch a technology three years after telling everyone else to bet the house on it?

    Yeah, that's their thing, and silverlight was an obvious punt on only maybe killing flash from the outset. They've done much worse than this to larger numbers of developers and will do it again. Ditch 'em. Go develop for something/someone else.

  9. alien anthropologist
    Coat

    ..and

    ..adding to the list of technology shaftings from Microsoft:

    What about their "commitment" to OpenGL in the early NT days?

    Or promising game developers that WinG will be "it" on Win4/Win95 for game development?

    What about shutting down Aces Studio and shafting several big corporations and government departments using ESP?

    There's a long list of technologies used, abused and then dropped by Microsoft - hurting their partners and their customers in the process.

    Of course, it also says a lot about these partners and customers when they simply ask for extra lube and stick with Microsoft for the next round of shafting.

    Mine's the one with the penguin in the pocket.

  10. Dharmesh Mistry
    Happy

    Humble Pie?

    Well, this actually puts MS in a new light for me. Their ability to say they were wrong and join the "standards" way forward shows them in a new humble light for me. I say well done !

    1. Pascal Monett Silver badge

      MS never joins the standard

      It is just adapting a new methodology in its "embrace, adapt, extend" policy.

      MS has simply acknowledged that Silverlight is not successful against Flash, and will be investing (infesting ?) HTML5 to do so more efficiently.

      I'd wait to see just how many "new functions" Microsoft implements in its version of HTML5 before I decide whether or not it has actually "joined" the standard or totally tried to subvert it.

    2. breakfast Silver badge
      Flame

      And yet...

      How far along would HTML5 in IE be if they had dedicated all their development resource to that instead of Silverlight? What a waste of everyone's time and effort to achieve nothing aside from wasting more of other people's time and effort. How irritating.

  11. Anonymous Coward
    Happy

    Never did figure out...

    ...what Silverlight was supposed to do - they kept wanting me to download and install it but there was nothing to explain why I could possibly want it.

    1. Wibble
      Thumb Up

      Adverts..

      More adverts, innane animations, inept UI designs, sound, CPU wastage...

      I've FlashBlock to calm Flash down and 'just say no' to prevent Silverlight from installing. Now if only I could simply eliminate pointless jQuery animations...

    2. Stew Baby
      Thumb Down

      Irony of Ironies

      That I finally downloaded Silverlight in order to access the Ghosthunters Halloween show...

      argh

  12. Anonymous Coward
    Boffin

    Doesn't sound unreasonable...

    It makes sense - if you want the broadest support (particularly a wide range of mobile devices) - go HTML5. You'll never get Silverlight onto iOS devices for a start.

    However, if you want the richest applications, with a more limited range of support (PC + Mac, with Moonlight possibly for Linux) then go with Silverlight.

    From what I've seen, MS haven't dropped Silverlight - they've just realised that iOS is a major player now, and HTML5 is the only way they can get richer content onto those, and other, devices.

  13. Chris Thomas Alpha
    Thumb Up

    eggs, numbnutts, whats the difference?

    "and many others like myself that threw all of their eggs into the Silverlight basket"

    Therefore you're an idiot and perhaps deserve what you get

  14. iamapizza

    It's happened before

    This isn't the first time something has been touted as the latest-and-greatest only to be redacted later. Linq to Sql was one of the biggest new features that came out with .NET 2.0+. Everyone was using it. Then came the ADO.NET Entity Framework. Which did the same thing (and more), and so they stopped development on Linq to SQL with similar statements - it's not "going away", it just won't be developed anymore. Same angry waves of disbelief pervaded.

    A constantly changing focus can be very dissuading for developers. I've spent all this time learning technology X but now you're telling me that Y is better. Why didn't you tell me about Y before? Mind you, there could be perfectly legitimate reasons, but most of it comes down to commercial factors. It wouldn't be too profitable to go against HTML5's <video> as well as Flash, so off you go, let's focus on HTML5's features.

    Flip side - as a developer you SHOULD be expanding your skills constantly and not build an entire career structure around one single technology.

  15. Anonymous Coward
    Gates Horns

    Anti Trust

    "In just three years, the Silverlight player had become installed on "two-thirds" of PCs."

    Thats what happens when you have market share you can use security tools such as windows update to push out your new software onto the unsuspecting public!

    I think this practice should be banned and go the way of IE through the courts.

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Let me clarify this

      It's an OPTIONAL update.

    2. Tom 7

      2/3rds of PC's?

      So you have a PC OS market share of 89% and still cant force your flagship technology down all their throats? That should have rung a bell with developers - or at least ones who know how to keep their options open.

  16. Magnus_Pym

    Could it be...

    ...MPEG-LA putting up a united front for the anti Ogg campaign?

  17. Anonymous Coward
    Go

    Harsh but fair

    I think the MS strategy -focus on HTML5- is the right one. It's x-platform, works in other people's browsers, way less proprietary. Did silverlight ever work on linux desktops? Nope. So that's it out of TVs, android phones, lots of the embedded space. Do we really need another flash -another proprietary plugin for browsers that is somewhat security ridden and used to deliver bouncing adverts? Not really, no.

    I feel sorry for anyone who committed to silverlight, but as the first poster pointed out: MS are only ever your friend for as long as it suits them. They recognised that Silverlight wasn't going to win, and have come up with a new strategy. It's either that or follow a strategy that they themselves have given up on. They may feel sorry for the developers -and their own investment- but it's not like they had a choice, that silverlight was suddenly going to become wildly successful.

    Anyone else who follows a single big vendor's strategy; Adobe, Oracle, Facebook, take note. If your business model depends on the strategic direction of a company way bigger than you being consistent, it's doomed. The only issue is when do things fall apart.

  18. Goat Jam
    Gates Horns

    Ummmm, OK

    What sort of treatment exactly did the "fans" expect to get from Microsoft?

    It's not like they don't have lots of prior form in this regard.

    Numpties

  19. Anonymous Coward
    Megaphone

    Why the broohaha

    All the critics are acting so self-righteous, but Silverlight has a 70% installation base (http://riastats.com) on PCs, Macs and other desktop factors and will probably gain more traction now that people see it's not runtime-world domination that M$ wants. Let's not forget it is also becoming very relevant on the mobile space and will most probably run on android, perhaps on ios aswell (perhaps via SL->HTML conversion?)

    I think this is a clever move by Microsoft, because HTML5 is obviously more cross platform and standards driven than any runtime will ever be, so why blame them that they're hedging their bets.

    The Flash fanbois will meet the same fate sooner or later, the world is just better off without bloatware (of any kind!).

    1. Magnus_Pym

      Desktop - there's your answer

      It has been installed on a large proportion of desktops. However most 'rich content' stuff has to work on all formats. If you where an advertiser would you make your adverts:

      a) look really whizzy but only be guaranteed a windows desktop audience

      b) look a bit less whizzy but be the same on any phone, set top box, tablet, netbook or PC that can access it.

    2. Anonymous Coward
      FAIL

      MS is fighting and it's funny!

      70% install base? That wouldn't be because MS "sneaked" it in with other updates would it? One thing to ask people to do something another to do it for them and claim they asked for it.

      Face it, MS made something, no one of any importance bothered to pay attention due to previous MS track record. Sorry mate, MS are trying to ride a tired old wave. They think they can simply wave their magic wand like they did around the Win98/XP days and everyone will all fawn over MS products. There're dozens more choices for info delivery these days, not just a PC and an internet connection anymore.

      Lots of platforms and lots of choices are availble, MS for the first time in their lives are having to fight for our attention and they can't hack it!

      Shame, wish I cared but like most people I chop and change my tech allegiance to whatever suits my purpose, currently OSX. When MS get off their arses and beat Apple's offerings, maybe in a year or two, I will jump back or maybe the Penguin might be good for a change.

      I am a tech "whore" 'cos life is too short, stuff needs to get done and I favour those that can help me get my stuff done, here and now, not some PR pipe dream in 2 years time.

  20. GazElm

    Hurrah!

    Silverlight is dead!

    What next for the bastardised half arsed Moonlight version?

  21. Sentient
    Pint

    Silverlight for webapplications

    If you were using silverlight for building webapplications you were doing it wrong anyway.

    Just as if you were using Flash.

    Silverlight will still be a viable client technology just as WPF, QT, flash etc... Too be honest I think MS is still going to need a crossplatform client technology too since most apps that are installed on portable devices are client apps, not HTML 5 apps.

    Beer cause I like to discuss tech choices with a nice pint.

  22. Anonymous Coward
    Welcome

    well at least "wp7 ftw"

    If Flash is supposed to wither, I don't see why not Silverlight. There might be a resurgence of Flash and Silverlight if Java will become unpopular. This was obvious the moment Apple rejected Flash.

    Until Java might become unpopular, I put my money on Silverlight for WP7.

  23. Dan 55 Silver badge
    Black Helicopters

    That meeting between MS and Adobe

    MS agreed to limit Silverlight to WP7, i.e. stop competing against Flash.

    So what did Adobe agree to do in return?

  24. Rogerborg

    D3D Retained Mode

    Those of us who made the mistake of buying into that pig in a poke learned this lesson 15 years ago, and we weren't the first to get smacked around by Microsoft's pendulous wobbling whimstick. Approach with CAUTION.

  25. Ken Hagan Gold badge

    Experience is a harsh teacher...

    ...and apparently some are still in denial.

    "Commenter Ross Wozniak [told] Muglia:

    "Your comments (or at least the snippets that appeared in print) may have done irreparable damage to my career, and many others like myself that threw all of their eggs into the Silverlight basket. I *expect* you to fix this, and soon!"

    Er, why's that, Mr Wozniak? Do you have a contract with MS to keep your career going? You had the same information as the rest of us but chose to throw all your career eggs into one basket. Perhaps now you can see why we didn't do that, but you really have no redress against the wicked Microsofties unless they signed a contract, and I think we both know that they didn't.

  26. The Other Steve
    WTF?

    It seems like you lose when you win

    Ah I see, so MS decide to do things in a 'non standard' way, and loads of people hate on them. Then they decide to things in a standards based way, and loads of people hate on them. Brilliant.

    As for this :

    "Your comments (or at least the snippets that appeared in print) may have done irreparable damage to my career, and many others like myself that threw all of their eggs into the Silverlight basket."

    Well, firstly, isn't there a saying along the lines that you shouldn't ? Something pithy like "Don't put all your eggs in one basket", in fact.

    Secondly, as anyone who has been an MS dev for more than about five minutes knows, the retool/reskill cycle on MS platforms is about two years. Get used to it. If you or your boss haven't taken this into account, you're doing it wrong.

    Thirdly, stop whining. Did you really expect that a single skill set would last you entire career ? Go learn something new, pussies.

    And fourthly and lastly, Silverlight doesn't get switched off tomorrow. The sky is not falling. Go back to your cubicles and prepare for roadmaps.

  27. codemonkey
    Pirate

    How accurate..

    The top of Page 2 was...I got to the bottom of Page 1 and had a good chuckle along those very lines...

    "Open sourcers might chuckle at the predicament of the Windows fan:"

    Of course that dude that *expect*s M$ to fix this! Yeah...And world capitalism really is really good for you and for all humans...DOH

    Skull and Cross Swords as I'll be long in my grave before some folks waken up to the horrors...

  28. Bilgepipe

    Wrong

    "it's a comment on how the industry has changed"

    No, the industry is carrying on exactly as it was before - not using your proprietary software.

    It's not as if this is the first time MS has taken a dump over a large portion of it's developer community, and it won't be the last.

  29. xyz Silver badge
    Thumb Up

    Thank f*** for that

    After years of the dead weight of bloody .Net "web forms" and effin Silverlight, MS realise that they've shafted themselves, so we're now getting under the counter cool stuff like asp.net MVC and a volte face and all that crap they've been producing webwise since .Net 1.x is now going in the bin at last. oh happy days!

  30. Jamchal
    Happy

    Correct Decision

    Well done Microsoft for going with HTML5.

    Slap accross the face Microsoft for being an untrustworthy swine.

    Sorry to all dev's who 'put all their eggs in one basket' however that type of mentality is surely going to land you in it again if you continue. Haven't you ever heard the saying?

    Open standards cross platform is the way to go.

  31. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Horses for courses.

    The crux of this is the statment that ....

    "Silverlight remained heavily outgunned by Flash and HTML5 as a content authoring and delivery platform"

    Maybe but many of us don't use Slverlight for that. We use it to build rich, fast, reliable UI's to complex enterprise applications. Java app's just didn't cut it from a user experience perspective, and Ajax/Javascript has been significantly less productive for us (especailly when you consider the full application lifecycle.)

    It make sense for it to be on the Windows Phone, competing against Apples Objective C based framework, Googles Dalvik, and Nokia's QT. It may no longer make sense for maniulating media in a web browser, but for App's (from games to acountancy) on a PC, it (and Flash) still make sense.

  32. Anonymous Coward
    Gates Horns

    Bill Gates

    I hope someone will tell Bill Gates. You have to install Silverlight if you want to watch the Feynman Lectures...

    http://research.microsoft.com/apps/tools/tuva/index.html

  33. Joe Montana
    Flame

    Been here before...

    "Your comments (or at least the snippets that appeared in print) may have done irreparable damage to my career, and many others like myself that threw all of their eggs into the Silverlight basket."

    This guy has done irreparable damage to his own career by throwing all his eggs into a basket controlled by a single entity, especially one with a history of screwing their own partners like microsoft has.

    That said, i never did see the point of silverlight, it was always playing catch up to flash while not addressing the biggest complaints about flash. There are a multitude of platforms on which flash currently runs that silverlight does not...

    Moonlight is always several released behind and largely useless.

    There is a lot of work being done to move away from proprietary flash, but to replace it with another proprietary plugin is just a case of out of the frying pan and into the fire.

    Also, as much as people dislike Adobe, at least they keep flash relatively cross platform and have no real incentive not to. Based on past experience, had silverlight achieved a dominant position you would have seen all non windows implementations quickly abandoned while the windows version was modified just enough to become incompatible before then too being left to stagnate.

  34. asdf
    Flame

    quit saying silverlight is cross platform

    Moonlight is typical Novell patent encumbered garbage and anybody that would deploy it into production and put their career on the line deserves what they get. Silverlight is about as cross platform as M$ Office xml format is (yes sometimes OpenOffice can open it but just as often it garbles it up).

  35. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    They have a history on this front

    visual basic had a code base change just after i had paid for the development system and a lot of 3rd party books. all code would need to be rewritten .It did me a great favour. i abandoned msoft languages at that point and have drifted away from proprietory languages . the only exception is the android app inventor , but i use that for fun and amusement , so not much loss if it goes bosoms skyward. Development houses that took the microsoft statements about silverlight and their commitment to it must be fuming at he carnage wrought on their work. Almost as much as Java developers for Apple.

  36. This post has been deleted by its author

  37. Blain Hamon
    Joke

    So wait,

    Does this mean that Active X is NOT the wave of the future?

  38. Gilgamesh

    so we're lumbered with Flash forever

    HTML5 will never, NEVER be as "feature rich" as Flash or Silverlight. So we're now stuck with developing in Flash with all the baggage that comes with. Isn't it time there was a real open-source cross-browser rich media standard? And wouldn't Silverlight have been a good candidate for exactly this?

  39. Anonymous Coward
    WTF?

    Mission accomplished?

    So strange?!?! Did MS really just do this? Am I dreaming? This means they are changing. And not just a little. This almost looks like the end of their business model. Did the departure of Ozzie wake up the other brass and smell the 2010 coffee?

    Silverlight was the *perfect* lockin tool. It looks cross platform, but isn't. It's hard to explain how it leads to lockin. It looks harmless and is easy to learn. It was perfect! The strategy was also perfect! Since Sharepoint and other MS stuff is "optimized" with Silverlight it made sure people had to buy Windows clients and Windows Server next to Sharepoint. Still can't believe I'm writing this in past tense. They just killed their money maker. Their IE6 replacement lockin tech. The grease that fueled their new "ready for the cloud" license lockin machine.

    What is the catch? Are they gonna break HTML5 with "extensions"? I can't believe what I'm reading. This would mean I could use a Windows server product with any client OS and any browser? How will MS make money? It's incredible! There must be a catch somehow... I just know there is.

  40. Adam White
    Jobs Horns

    Remember the date

    This is the day Microsoft lost.

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