Silverlight
16. Apr, 2007 
7 Comments
At last … a really great name for a really interesting technology. This was a major reason why I moved my family to the other side of the continent…
The programming model details will be revealed at MIX … see you there!
… and you worked on that still mysterious “point 10″ from Tim Sneath’s article “Introducing Microsoft Silverlight” (http://blogs.msdn.com/tims/archive/2007/04/15/introducing-microsoft-silverlight.aspx), right?
p.
Yep
This is cool, but I’m still hoping that I can code this using Ruby…
pt #10 wouldn’t be about non-windows dev tools would it? ; )
thanks for not having us wait until PDC!
i hope this takes dynlang integration further than ironpyhton did so far. and i sure hope that MS finally comes up with their own dynlang with really great CLS integration! (something like groovy?)
and finally i hope your presentation will be available for download as soon as you leave the stage!
but then of course, hope is a double-edged sword, right?
Silverlight really looks highly advanced, the microsoft website says this about silverlight: ”
Key benefits of Silverlight include:
1. Compelling cross-browser, cross-platform user experiences
* Deliver media experiences and rich interactive applications (RIA) for the Web that incorporate video, animation, interactivity, and stunning user interfaces (UIs).
* Seamless, fast installation for users, thanks to a small, on-demand, easy-to-install plug-in that is under 2 megabyte (MB) in size and works with all leading browsers.
* Consistent experiences on Macintosh computers and Windows-based computers without any additional installation requirements.
* Create richer, more compelling Web experiences that take greater advantage of the client for increased performance.
* Stunning vector-based graphics, media, text, animation, and overlays enable seamless integration of graphics and effects into any existing Web application.
* Enhance existing standards/AJAX-based applications with richer graphics and media and improve their performance and capabilities by using Silverlight.
2. Flexible programming model with collaborative tools
* Based on the Microsoft .NET Framework, Silverlight enables developers and designers to easily use existing skills and tools to deliver media experiences and RIAs for the Web.
* Simple integration with existing Web technologies and assets means Silverlight works with any back-end Web platform or technology. No “rip and replace” required. Silverlight integrates with your existing infrastructure and applications, including Apache and PHP, as well as with JavaScript and XHTML on the client.
* Role-specific tools for both designers and developers that take advantage of Web standards and the breadth of the Microsoft .NET-connected software features.
* Designers will like that Expression Studio creates interactive UIs and media rich experiences, prepares media for encoding and distribution, and creates World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) standards-compliant sites by using modern XHTML, XML, XSLT, CSS, and Microsoft ASP.NET.
* Developers will use Visual Studio for development of client and server code with full Microsoft IntelliSense, powerful debugging, rich language support, and more.
* Consistent presentation model using XAML, the declarative presentation language used in Windows Vista applications. Controls, visual designs, media, and other elements can be presented with full design fidelity in both Silverlight and Windows-based applications.
* Dramatically improved performance for AJAX-enabled Web sites with the power, performance, and flexibility of Silverlight and .NET-connected software.
3. Efficient, lower cost of delivery and more capable media solution
* Unified media format scales from high definition (HD) to mobile with Windows Media Video (WMV), the Microsoft implementation of the Society of Motion Picture and Television Engineers (SMPTE) VC-1 video standard, as well as support for Windows Media Audio (WMA) and MP3 audio.
* Add vector-based graphics and overlays to media with support for integration of graphics that scale to any size and broadcast-style overlays for tickers and closed captioning.
* Flexible ad-insertion solutions with video and animation including the ability to deliver fluid, broadcast-style video or animated advertisements without any loss of visual fidelity or motion quality.
* Lower-cost media streaming with Emmy Award–winning Windows Media technologies that can significantly lower the cost of streaming delivery with the flexibility to work with existing Windows Media streaming deployments. Even further cost reductions are possible with the upcoming Microsoft Internet Information Services (IIS) Media Pack for Windows Server Code Name “Longhorn.”
* Broad ecosystem of media tools, servers, and solutions compatible with the Windows Media operating system.
* Powerful encoding tools for live and on-demand publishing of media experiences with Expression Media Encoder, including hardware-accelerated encoding of WMV and VC-1 at up to 15 times the performance of software alone when paired with a Tarari Encoder Accelerator board (based on Tarari internal tests).” Maybe we will try to launch some test application on our web portal for software development (http://www.netvance.at), but one question raises: what is the time horizon for the final version of silverlight? Because the MS site says, that the February CTP expires on June 6, 2007. An update will be available prior to the expiration. Upon expiration, the client will prompt you with an expiration notice and ask you to upgrade. Web developers will be able to offer the update programmatically, making the experience easy for their users. So what happens to the test applications?
Weird that I’m only reading this now… my feedreader must be messed up or I need to re-point the rss feed.
Anyway…
“Consistent presentation model using XAML”
How do you deal with all that bracket tax John?