All About Microsoft
Mary-Jo FoleyMicrosoft set to launch beta of Silverlight for Symbian
Summary
In March 2008, Microsoft and Nokia announced their commitment to make Silverlight available for certain Nokia phones running the Symbian operating system. Microsoft is finally ready to make a beta of that code available.
Topics
Blogger Info
Mary-Jo Foley
Biography
Mary-Jo Foley
Mary Jo Foley has covered the tech industry for 20 years for a variety of publications, including ZDNet, eWeek and Baseline. She has kept close tabs on Microsoft strategy, products and technologies for the past 10 years. In the late 1990s, she penned the award-winning "At The Evil Empire" column for ZDNet, and more recently the Microsoft Watch blog for Ziff Davis.
Got a tip? Send her an email with your rants, rumors, tips and tattles. Confidentiality guaranteed.
In March 2008, Microsoft and Nokia announced their commitment to make Silverlight available for certain Nokia phones running the Symbian operating system. Microsoft is finally ready to make a beta of that code available.
Microsoft briefly posted, then pulled, the download of the beta of the Silverlight for Symbian code on March 11, as well as the associated developer tools for that release. I grabbed the description of the downloads before they were zapped.
From the description of the tools:
“The installable executable file enables users to run Silverlight applications on the Nokia S60 5th Edition platform. The executable file includes the Silverlight runtime for Nokia S60 5th Edition devices, the Silverlight runtime for Nokia S60 5th Edition emulator, sample applications, and developer documentation.”
And from the description of the Silverlight for Symbian beta:
“The installable executable enables user to run Silverlight applications on the Nokia S60 5th Edition platform.”
Microsoft is likely to make the downloads of these two offerings available the week of March 14, given that the company’s annual Mix Web developer conference kicks off that week.
When Microsoft and Nokia announced two years ago their deal to develop the port of Silverlight to Symbian, the pair said to expect the final code before the end of 2008. They’ll be close to two years late if they deliver the final by the end of this calendar year.
Microsoft officials also have been hinting that a port of Silverlight to Android was just around the corner for the past year-plus. I’m wondering if we might get an update on that port, as well, at Mix 10, given that Microsoft is expected to roll out in detail its Silverlight for Windows Phone 7 OS plans at next week’s confab….
Update (March 16): The Silverlight for Symbian beta is now live. More info here: http://betalabs.nokia.com/apps/silverlight.
Kick off your day with ZDNet's daily e-mail newsletter. It's the freshest tech news and opinion, served hot. Get it.
Mary Jo has covered the tech industry for more than 25 years for a variety of publications and Web sites, and is a frequent guest on radio, TV and podcasts, speaking about all things Microsoft-related. She is the author of Microsoft 2.0: How Microsoft plans to stay relevant in the post-Gates era (John Wiley & Sons, 2008).
Disclosure
Mary-Jo Foley
Freelance journalist/blogger Mary Jo Foley has nothing to disclose. WYSIWYG (what you see is what you get). I do not own Microsoft stock or stock in any of its partners or competitors. I have no business ventures that are sponsored by/funded by Microsoft or any of its partners or competitors. I have not accepted any consulting funds from Microsoft, any of its partners or its competitors for any studies/projects.
Biography
Mary-Jo Foley
Mary Jo Foley has covered the tech industry for 20 years for a variety of publications, including ZDNet, eWeek and Baseline. She has kept close tabs on Microsoft strategy, products and technologies for the past 10 years. In the late 1990s, she penned the award-winning "At The Evil Empire" column for ZDNet, and more recently the Microsoft Watch blog for Ziff Davis.
Got a tip? Send her an email with your rants, rumors, tips and tattles. Confidentiality guaranteed.
More from “All About Microsoft”
Related Discussions on TechRepublic
Did you know you can take part in these discussions with your ZDNet membership?Talkback Most Recent of 6 Talkback(s)
-
Wonder which version of SilverLight it could be?
SL2, 3 OR 4?
LBiege03/12/2010 06:13 PM -
I was wondering the same thing
Guess we will find out at mix
x21x03/12/2010 10:28 PM -
Thoughts about Silverlight and diversification
By all accounts the Windows Phone 7 series (is that
what it is called) will be a much more controlled and
homogeneous set of devices compared to previous
Windows Mobile/CE devices.
The advantages are obvious, especially for developers
as they can assume a certain set of buttons, a certain
set of capabilities (such as 3D hardware acceleration)
etc.
When MS extends Silverlight on mobile devices to
Symbian and possibly other devices as well, how will
they deal with the vastly different capabilities?
honeymonster03/13/2010 02:19 AM -
no_read03/13/2010 11:52 PM -
Is This Microsoft's 'Plan-B'?
So if Microsoft's Windows Phone 7 Series fails to gain traction in the market, because it has few applications and can't compete against Android and iPhone, Microsoft's Plan-B is to get Silverlight onto as many other phone platforms as possible.
What's the use of putting Microsoft's proprietary platform on top of open-source operating systems such as Android and Symbian? The reverse should have happened. If Microsoft had used an open-source kernel as the base of its Windows Phone operating system, it would have come to market years earlier, cost less to develop, and been a success (unlike the current mess that Windows Phone is in).
Market Analyst03/14/2010 06:48 PM -
RE: Is This Microsoft's 'Plan-B'?
"What's the use of putting Microsoft's proprietary platform on top of open-source operating systems such as Android and Symbian?"
It's just a runtime that allows Silverlight apps to run on other OS's. Alot of people complain that Microsoft creates vender lock-in by only developing stuff that runs on Windows. So then Microsoft starts developing stuff that runs on other OS's and still gets criticism.
bmonster03/15/2010 08:53 AM
Talkback - Tell Us What You Think
The best of ZDNet, delivered
ZDNet Newsletters
Get the best of ZDNet delivered straight to your inbox
Vendor Showcase
Facebook Activity
Blog Roll
- All About Microsoft
- The Apple Core
- Between the Lines
- BriefingsDirect
- Collaboration 2.0
- Dev Connection
- A Developer's View
- Digital Cameras & Camcorders
- Ed Bott's Microsoft Report
- Emerging Tech
- Enterprise Web 2.0
- Five Nines: The Next Gen Datacenter
- Forrester Research
- Googling Google
- GreenTech Pastures
- Hardware 2.0
- Home Theater
- iGeneration
- India IT
- Irregular Enterprise
- IT Project Failures
- Laptops & Desktops
- Lawgarithms
- Linux and Open Source
- Managing L'unix
- The Mobile Gadgeteer
- Networking
- On Sustainability
- The Semantic Web
- Service Oriented
- Smartphones and Cell Phones
- Social Business
- Social CRM: The Conversation
- Software & Services Safari
- Software as Services
- Storage Bits
- Team Think
- Tech Broiler
- Tom Foremski: IMHO
- The ToyBox
- Virtually Speaking
- The Web Life
- ZDNet Education
- ZDNet Government
- ZDNet Healthcare
- Zero Day
Blog Archive
White Papers, Webcasts, & Resources
- Planning Media Resources for Your VoIP EnvironmentMedia Resource design is an important component of overall IP Telephony ... (Global Knowledge) Download Now
- The Scoop on the New CCNA and CCNP SpecializationsThere has been a lot of interest among students lately on the details ... (Global Knowledge) Download Now
- Assessing Your Organization's Readiness for Windows 7There has been great interest in the subject of Microsoft's Windows 7 in ... (Global Knowledge) Download Now
