You Can’t Rely on Developers to Sell Silverlight

Wearing my developer hat I could (and at times have) wax lyrical about how awesome Silverlight is; how great it is to build RIAs using a familiar language, how great the tool support is, how easy it is to build great animations, how I’ve welcomed the return of the stateful application… but none of this will make any difference to the adoption of Silverlight.

Silverlight will only hit the mainstream when it is an incidental (yet critical) element of a must-have user experience.

Let me explain what I mean.

Flash can thank its widespread adoption to the simple fact that the demand to watch video through the web browser was such that people readily accepted the need to install a plug-in to do so. There was no alternative. No-one chose to install the Flash plug-in because it was a cool technology.

In fact, both Flash and Silverlight have yet to crack the RIA space. You simply don’t see many applications that satisfied a demand or need that can’t currently be solved using HTML/CSS/JavaScript. Sure it might take twice as long to build a really rich experience (take Google Wave for example – I shudder to think the extent of the JavaScript libraries and CSS magic that went in to it) but, for the end user, the experience is still pretty good.

Now if Microsoft ever deliver Office in Silverlight that could well be application that drives the incidental adoption of Silverlight. Certainly, Silverlight 4 has added a number of new features that would make achieving the level of functionality required for an online version of Office possible.

So come on Microsoft – give the world an application that customers have to have that just happens to be built using Silverlight. Like you need to be told ;-)

Wednesday, December 09, 2009 10:10 PM

Your Comments.

# re: You Can’t Rely on Developers to Sell Silverlight

"I shudder to think the extent of the JavaScript libraries and CSS magic that went in to it..."

This sort of attitude is the reason why Microsoft is being left in the dust on the web.

HTML/CSS/JS must be fully embraced by web apps in order to be truly adopted. As you've mentioned, Flash is the exception. Not even Java could pull it off after all these years.

The reason Silverlight is having difficulty is because it offers no additional value over Flash. People already have a Flash video player. When confronted with a Silverlight video, most shrug and get the content elsewhere.

Also, for myself, I shy away from technology that is supported mainly/only on the Windows platform. When I encounter a Silverlight video (I run Linux), I usually leave and never return.

For disclosure, I'm a web developer.

Left by John Rockefeller at 12/10/2009 5:30 AM

# re: You Can’t Rely on Developers to Sell Silverlight

I agree, as a Linux developer, you're not exactly basking in Silverlight love...

My comment about HTML/CSS/JS is based on a belief that the whole concept of producing rich internet applications using these technologies is pushing the proverbial uphill. You can do it but surely there must be a better way. The foundation of the internet (statelessness, postbacks, thin clients...) was never meant to deliver the richness we are seeing and that is being increasingly demanded. Flash and Silverlight could (I say should) be used for way more than video - that is the tip of the iceberg of their potential. My point is that to embark on a new way to deliver and build RIAs we need to start from a demand that can't easily be delivered using traditional web applications.

Left by Tokes at 12/10/2009 8:26 PM

# Horses for Courses

SilverLight & Flash are inherently different from HTML5 (JavaScript, CSS, etc) - the fact that you can provide a degree of GUI richness is as far as the comparison goes.

If you're only concern is a rich UI then your choice should be based on the expectation of your audience, and suitability to what your doing, but there is always more to it than that.

I tend to work in the .Net / Microsoft space, so SilverLight is a natural option (certainly over Flash, at least); as it integrates well with an ASP.NET solution.

I can't speak for the non-MS folks out there, but I would assume there is something similar for them; I'd argue that RIA technology is now a recognised piece of any mature software platform - whether it be Flash, SilverLight, HTML5 or something else.

My point is that yes, SilverLight might not be being widely adopted in the web, but that doesn't mean it's a failed technology - I'd see it as a natural tool to use for an ASP.NET based app, and not necesarily an online one, how about real-time management software (power-grids, traffic management, etc).

Left by Adrian K at 12/14/2009 10:29 AM

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# re: You Can’t Rely on Developers to Sell Silverlight
"I shudder to think the extent of the JavaScript libraries and CSS magic that went in to it..."

This sort of attitude is the reason why Microsoft is being left in the dust on the web.

HTML/CSS/JS must be fully embraced by web apps in order to be truly adopted. As you've mentioned, Flash is the exception. Not even Java could pull it off after all these years.

The reason Silverlight is having difficulty is because it offers no additional value over Flash. People already have a Flash video player. When confronted with a Silverlight video, most shrug and get the content elsewhere.

Also, for myself, I shy away from technology that is supported mainly/only on the Windows platform. When I encounter a Silverlight video (I run Linux), I usually leave and never return.

For disclosure, I'm a web developer.

Left by John Rockefeller at 12/10/2009 5:30 AM
# re: You Can’t Rely on Developers to Sell Silverlight
I agree, as a Linux developer, you're not exactly basking in Silverlight love...

My comment about HTML/CSS/JS is based on a belief that the whole concept of producing rich internet applications using these technologies is pushing the proverbial uphill. You can do it but surely there must be a better way. The foundation of the internet (statelessness, postbacks, thin clients...) was never meant to deliver the richness we are seeing and that is being increasingly demanded. Flash and Silverlight could (I say should) be used for way more than video - that is the tip of the iceberg of their potential. My point is that to embark on a new way to deliver and build RIAs we need to start from a demand that can't easily be delivered using traditional web applications.

Left by Tokes at 12/10/2009 8:26 PM
# Horses for Courses
SilverLight & Flash are inherently different from HTML5 (JavaScript, CSS, etc) - the fact that you can provide a degree of GUI richness is as far as the comparison goes.

If you're only concern is a rich UI then your choice should be based on the expectation of your audience, and suitability to what your doing, but there is always more to it than that.

I tend to work in the .Net / Microsoft space, so SilverLight is a natural option (certainly over Flash, at least); as it integrates well with an ASP.NET solution.

I can't speak for the non-MS folks out there, but I would assume there is something similar for them; I'd argue that RIA technology is now a recognised piece of any mature software platform - whether it be Flash, SilverLight, HTML5 or something else.

My point is that yes, SilverLight might not be being widely adopted in the web, but that doesn't mean it's a failed technology - I'd see it as a natural tool to use for an ASP.NET based app, and not necesarily an online one, how about real-time management software (power-grids, traffic management, etc).

Left by Adrian K at 12/14/2009 10:29 AM

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