Silverlight Excitement
Are you excited about Silverlight? I am.
In case you haven't heard, Silverlight is a new rich internet application platform developed by Microsoft with support on both Windows and Macintosh systems. It's pretty awesome. The Silverlight demos presented during the Mix 07 conference keynote were simply out of this world, and featured the cross-platform experience on Mac (or, depending on your perspective, the cross-platform experience on Windows) quite nicely.
Developers can use XAML (a subset of the same XML-based vector graphics markup language used by Windows Presentation Foundation on Vista) in the browser, and bind XAML controls through the DOM to either Javascript or the .NET Framework core components, the latter of which was brought over to Mac to help make this happen. That's right; I said .NET Framework on Mac. Exciting? You bet.
Too geeky for you? How about streaming Windows Media audio and video, supported by Microsoft, including HD video up to 720p? Check out these Mix 07 demos (I'm personally a major fan of Top Banana) and you'll start to get a sense of the kinds of exciting rich internet experiences that Silverlight helps to enable.
Not geeky enough for you? What about dynamic language runtime support, so you can implement all your code-behind in Ruby, Python, or what have you? How about designers and developers working together with seamlessly integrated workflows to help each other deliver striking content with killer functionality behind the scenes? How about the power and performance of the core .NET Framework helping to deliver both software and services online, across browsers, and across platforms? How about 4 GB of free Microsoft-hosted video? How cool is that?
Did I mention that Silverlight is supported in both Safari and Firefox browsers on the Mac? Okay, I admit, I'm feeling just a little bit of Silverlight excitement.
So, that's all good and exciting, but what does Silverlight have to do with MacBU anyways? Well, in a sense, not much: Silverlight is not a MacBU effort. Why not, you ask? Well, as you probably know, MacBU has never been the only source within Microsoft for software on the Mac. We certainly are the center of gravity for exciting Mac-specific experiences at Microsoft, but Silverlight (which is really about exciting cross-platform experiences) doesn't really fit that "Mac-specific" charter. But we're certainly excited to have Silverlight join us here on this exciting platform that we call the Mac.
Check out Silverlight for yourself.
Comments
Anonymous
May 23, 2007
Excited about Silverlight? No I'm not. Even if I believed Microsoft intended to keep it platform agnostic - which I don't - I wouldn't care in the least. The internet doesn't need more competing technologies that are little more than retreads of what already exists. So far all I see is another attempt by the Borg to assimilate the internet. I have a truly exciting idea for Microsoft - not to mention my stock portfolio which includes a great deal of undervalued Microsoft stock - INNOVATE SOMETHING instead of talking about innovating. I feel better now.Anonymous
May 23, 2007
The comment has been removedAnonymous
May 23, 2007
The comment has been removedAnonymous
May 23, 2007
The comment has been removedAnonymous
May 23, 2007
"How about designers and developers working together with seamlessly integrated workflows" As long as they use Windows to do it? Right?Anonymous
May 23, 2007
Streaming windows media... does this mean that with this technology, windows media with DRM could be played on a Mac?Anonymous
May 23, 2007
The comment has been removedAnonymous
May 23, 2007
The comment has been removedAnonymous
May 23, 2007
The comment has been removedAnonymous
May 23, 2007
The comment has been removedAnonymous
May 23, 2007
I'll believe Microsoft is truly behind Silverlight as a cross-platform technology when they have authoring tools on both platforms. There is no parity if the Mac is a consumer only platform.Anonymous
May 24, 2007
The comment has been removedAnonymous
May 24, 2007
Blair, I'm on the same page as the rest of the commenters regarding Silverlight, but since no one else has said it yet: This doesn't mean that we aren't rooting for you guys in the MacBU, or that we aren't looking forward to seeing what you guys are doing with Office 2008 and other Mac products.Anonymous
May 24, 2007
You are falling for the usual Microsoft ploy. All friendly and nice now.. but when it is established that will all change. Believe it. Silverlight is NOT GOOD for anyone but Microsoft.Anonymous
May 24, 2007
The comment has been removedAnonymous
May 24, 2007
The comment has been removedAnonymous
May 24, 2007
Exciting? AFAIK Silverlight only works on Intel-Macs, leaving more than 60% of the installed Mac-base out in the rain. If that's what's called cross-platform-experience at Microsoft, I'm not impressed.Anonymous
May 24, 2007
As well, considering that Silverlight 1.1 is Intel only, half the mac users out there can't use it anyway. Oy.Anonymous
May 25, 2007
:-( It seems that silverlight dosen't work whit powerPC mac..Anonymous
May 25, 2007
Nope, not excited at all. Remember IE and WMP? Those were supposed to bring "cross-platform" experiences to the Mac, but they got dropped as soon as the standard was well-entrenched. We may use Mac Office, but that doesn't mean we're idiots that will buy all your propaganda. It will take a lot more than a couple dog-and-pony shows to make us buy your gambit this time. Fool me once, shame on you, fool me twice...Anonymous
May 25, 2007
The comment has been removedAnonymous
May 25, 2007
I think Silverlight for Mac is going to disappear as soon as the technology is established. Like MSIE for Mac, Media Player for Mac and Virtual PC, Silverlight will only last until MS has a big market share. Then, Mac support will be quietly discontinued.Anonymous
May 25, 2007
"...And keep your eyyyyyyyyyyyyyye on the sparrow!"Anonymous
May 25, 2007
The comment has been removedAnonymous
May 25, 2007
MacBU = ShillAnonymous
May 26, 2007
The comment has been removedAnonymous
May 26, 2007
It's simple, you can not be excited about a technology if you can not develop for it on your platform of choice. point. Keep up the good work you're doing within the MacBU, forget about the other (PR) nonsense that's coming out the windows centric parts of MS.Anonymous
May 27, 2007
Silverlight news - May 27,2007Anonymous
May 27, 2007
For those of you with questions about Silverlight, one of the members of the team has been answering questions over at The Unofficial Apple Weblog: http://arstechnica.com/journals/apple.ars/2007/05/25/ms-bringing-windows-media-support-back-to-mac-with-silverlight There's other Silverlight resources as well, including blogs of several members of the team: http://www.microsoft.com/silverlight/blogs.aspxAnonymous
May 27, 2007
The comment has been removedAnonymous
May 27, 2007
The comment has been removedAnonymous
May 27, 2007
Look, it's Silverlight Version 1: http://www.microsoft.com/mind/1198/liquid/liquid.asp Like I said, give it a couple years of being a viable, cared-for product, and I'll start thinking it's worth looking at. Until then, nope. Thrice burned, thrice-shy. Is it harsh? Sure, but considering the same people are still running Microsoft, it's simply prudent to keep in mind the broken claims and promises of the past, and not blindly jump at yet another sparkly on monofilament.Anonymous
May 29, 2007
@ nadyne "We’re sorry, but we were unable to service your request. You may wish to choose from the links below for information about Microsoft products and services." This is what I get when I click on http://www.microsoft.com/silverlight/blogs.aspx The Unofficial Apple Weblog is at http://www.tuaw.com/2007/05/25/silverlight-brings-windows-media-streaming-from-ms/, by the way.Anonymous
May 30, 2007
The comment has been removedAnonymous
May 30, 2007
The comment has been removedAnonymous
May 30, 2007
Sooooo...this technology is going to be platform agnostic, eh? Okay, that means not just runtimes are cross-platform, right? I can create the content on my Mac, right? No? Then it's hardly cross-platform. Oops, Ballmer at AllthingsD today pretty much stated their agenda is to be mostly Windows-centric. No thanks. Adobe is going to eat Silverlight's lunch with Apollo anyway, so why bother?Anonymous
June 01, 2007
The comment has been removedAnonymous
June 01, 2007
The comment has been removedAnonymous
June 06, 2007
The comment has been removedAnonymous
June 06, 2007
The comment has been removedAnonymous
June 06, 2007
I have one question about Silverlight: Where do we report bugs??? I couldn't find any specific location where I could report bugs to the betas that are out there. I understand that the MacBU is not in charge of Silverlight so I assume it's a dedicated team somewhere else. Maybe the Silverlight for WIndows team. Considering how WMP turned out in a similar context, I take the fact that there is no way to send feedback as a very bad sign :-<Anonymous
June 07, 2007
off topic: can I get the new fonts (Corbel, Calibri, etc) for Office 2004 on Mac somewhere?Anonymous
June 08, 2007
The comment has been removedAnonymous
June 09, 2007
Some people are able to use a search engine. Try "Report a Silverlight Bug". The first hit is http://silverlight.net/forums/28.aspxAnonymous
June 14, 2007
Sorry, I respect you guys at the MacBu, but no matter how good Silverlight may be, I wouldn't support it. Its success would take from companies like Adobe, which actually does deliver cross platform support. Even with Office 2008, I will mention that Microsoft is killing cross platform support by eliminating some technologies that previously worked in the Mac version of Office, but will continue to work in the Windows version.Anonymous
June 21, 2007
The comment has been removedAnonymous
June 25, 2007
The comment has been removed