Will Silverlight make a dent?
Michael Gay September 6th, 2007
Microsoft has officially released Silverlight out of beta, and the content makers are starting to release their new Silverlight-driven web presentations. There’s already a decent list of adopters, including Major League Baseball and Fox movies who will use Silverlight for streaming video. Entertainment Tonight, The Home Shopping Network, WWE and Break.com will also use it, according to InformationWeek.
Entertainment Tonight will be creating Silverlight-based sites highlighting the “Emmy Awards” and other future events, HSN will use Silverlight for a live stream of its cable television network, the WWE will use Silverlight as a portal for wrestling videos and Break.com will launch a video search tool with a user experience based on the technology. Microsoft.com will also launch some Silverlight content, including a high-definition trailer for Halo that has already been using a test version of Silverlight.
The Entertainment Tonight content is new today and looks nice, but I’m still trying to figure out if this will all really be a threat to Flash. I will say this, the live-streaming technology with Silverlight appears far more stable than live video with Flash. That alone could have many content developers lean towards it. We know the CBS O&O’s are looking at using the technology, but a possible launch date isn’t public yet. Is anyone else looking at moving towards the Silverlight platform? What are your thoughts on the technology and the sites already using it?
7 Comments Add your own
1. Dave | September 6th, 2007 at 10:24 am
The .net coders love it. If you’re currently streaming with Windows Media, it’s an easy upgrade and it’s cross platform. It’s also HD-ready. A lot of people write it off because it’s Microsoft but ask Sony about writing MS when it came to Xbox.
The real question is… Will it pull an Xbox or pull a Zune?
2. adm | September 6th, 2007 at 1:24 pm
i hope the cross-platform stuff works out. like it or not, a lot of sites go with whatever MSFT offers just because it’s MSFT. this makes things really hard for Mac and Linux users (like me), who are always either tweaking or complaining. Example: TNT right now does not let you even access their video site if you do not use Windows — even though a Mac could probably play the videos if they let you through to the site. (So no “Closer” for me.)
With MLB’s current Windows Media set-up, it took me about half a day to get it to work with Linux. If Silverlight works as planned, I imagine it would be a point-and-click operation. My fear is that they will get ahead of themselves and MLB will switch over to Silverlight before the Linux software exists/is compatible, and I will be left out in the cold yet again.
3. teej | September 6th, 2007 at 2:38 pm
Combining the reliability and support base of Windows Media streaming tech with the interactivity of Flash is a big draw for folks who thrive on live, breaking news.
Live Flash is just barely ready for prime time - the toolset isn’t there, and everybody’s just now learning how it works on an enterprise level. Until it gets its feet more firmly on the ground and develops a third-party base of applications, I can see Silverlight being the medium of choice for interactive live video.
Also, if it works as smoothly on Macs as MS claims, this will finally fix the years-long debacle that is Flip4Mac and bring Mac users back into the livestreaming fold. And a Linux client? I’m all a-flutter.
4. Anonymous | September 6th, 2007 at 3:54 pm
What about MSNBC? You’d think they’d be leading the way on this?
5. steve | September 6th, 2007 at 8:02 pm
The move by CBS News to Flash (including the Evening News simulcast) is a high-profile, unmitigated disaster, so the release of Silverlight couldn’t be better-timed. Hopefully, unlike Flash, it will be prove ready for prime time.
6. Joe | September 10th, 2007 at 5:40 am
“Will it pull an Xbox or pull a Zune?”
Are either profitable?
And WTF is that glassy jock strap logo?
7. Mike | September 14th, 2007 at 2:34 pm
I think streaming windows media is more effecient than flash. It should save us a lot of bandwidth costs on video streaming once we can use it.
It’s a bit of a pain to install (required a reboot for me). Can’t use it until enough users already have it installed.
Leave a Comment
(Please keep URLs out of the comment body or the spam filter will block you.)Subscribe to the comments via RSS Feed