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Microsoft takes the wraps off Silverlight 5's planned feature set

By | December 2, 2010, 9:30am PST

Summary: At its Silverlight Firestarter event on December 2, Microsoft officials shared the list of planned features and timing for Silverlight 5, the next version of the company’s cross-platform runtime and development platform.

Microsoft’s strategy with Silverlight may have shifted, but the Silverlight development platform is still alive and kicking.

That’s Microsoft’s intended message, which officials plan to communicate during the kick-off of the company’s Silverlight Firestarter event on December 2. During today’s day-long update on Silverlight, Microsoft officials plan to share the list of forthcoming features and roadmap for Silverlight 5, the next version of the company’s cross-platform runtime and development platform.

In advance of the event, Microsoft execs said a public beta of Silverlight 5 is slated to be released in the second calendar quarter of 2011, with the final release-to-Web expected before the end of calendar 2011.

At Firestarter, Microsoft and partner Telerik also plan to unveil the final version of the Silverlight client for Facebook application at the event. Microsoft showed off earlier this year a beta of that application, previously known as Microsoft Silverlight Client for Facebook. Microsoft announced today that Telerik is taking over the development and maintenance of that free application, which is being renamed “Telerik Silverbook.f!acedeck.” Telerik’s app is powered by Silverlight 4.

Microsoft officials said there are more than 40 new features in Silverlight 5, which deliver 70 percent of the Silverlight user community’s new-feature requests. The bulk of the coming features are focused around making Silverlight a development platform for rich media and business applications.

Microsoft execs didn’t highlight any new mobile-development-focused or new cross-platform runtime promises for the Silverlight 5 platform (at least not prior to the Firestarter event itself). As Microsoft officials said this fall, the  company’s cross-platform runtime play is morphing, with HTML5 being the new way the Redmondians plan to tackle the cross-platform challenge, going forward.

Forrester Research analyst Jeffrey Hammond, who also was prebriefed about Microsoft’s Silverlight announcements today, said the tooling improvements coming with Silverlight 5 were notable.

“When you’re trying to build enterprise apps tool quality and depth matters a lot,” said Hammond. “The new coded UI tests and the improved debugger are both going to very helpful for devs that are building data bound Web apps (is there really any other kind in IT)?  It would be nice to see tools even close to the same caliber for HTML 5, but I’m not aware of any out there yet.”

In addition to tooling updates, Silverlight 5 will add improved media support and richer user-interface capabilities on the premium media experiences front, according to the company.

On the rich media front, version 5 will add:

  • Hardware Decode and presentation of H.264 improve performance for lower-power devices to render high-definition video using GPU support
  • “TrickPlay,” which allows video to be played at different speeds and supports fast-forward and rewind
  • Remote-control support allows users to control media playback
  • Digital rights management advancements allow seamless switching between DRM media sources

On the enterprise app-development front — an area of increasing emphasis for Microsoft with Silverlight — Microsoft officials said Silverlight 5 will add:

  • Fluid user interface to enable smoother animation within the UI
  • Support for Postscript vector printing
  • Reduced network latency by using a background thread for networking

Silverlight 5 also will include general performance and graphics enhancements, according to officials, including:

  • Reduced network latency by using a background thread for networking
  • XAML parser improvements that speed up startup and runtime performance
  • Support for 64-bit operating systems
  • Graphics Processing Unit (GPU) accelerated 3-D application programming interface (API) to provide rich graphics on the Web for building advanced data visualizations and rich user experience (UI)
  • Immediate mode graphics API allows direct rendering to the GPU
  • Hardware acceleration via windowless mode with Internet Explorer 9

More information on the planned Silverlight 5 feature set is available on the Microsoft Silverlight site.

What do you think, Silverlight developers in the audience? What are you looking forward to in the new release? What’s still missing?

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Topics

Microsoft Silverlight, Microsoft Corp., Digital Rights Management (DRM), Security, Mary Jo Foley

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.

Biography

Mary-Jo Foley

Mary Jo Foley has covered the tech industry for 25 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.

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RE: Microsoft takes the wraps off Silverlight 5's planned feature set
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RE: Microsoft takes the wraps off Silverlight 5's planned feature set
spivonious 2nd Dec 2010
Hardware decode of videos! Finally!
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64-bit Silverlight to power Win Mobile 8?
LBiege 2nd Dec 2010
That's great. hoho. That might really open the door for a SilverLight Tablet.
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RE: Microsoft takes the wraps off Silverlight 5's planned feature set
mibjr 2nd Dec 2010
I was going to mention 64-bit but nevermind. Plus they mentioned something about adding breakpoints in XAML code in SL5.
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RE: Microsoft takes the wraps off Silverlight 5's planned feature set
spc1972 2nd Dec 2010
I haven't watched the entire briefing yet, but I was hoping to hear something about being able to bring Silverlight based data applications (rather than media streaming) to Xbox via a Marketplace shared with Windows Phone.
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Contributr
Silverlight and Xbox
Mary Jo Foley 2nd Dec 2010
Hi... I believe all we know about MS' plans to bring SL to Xbox revolve around a job posting. To me, that means this is not something happening in the near term (SL 5 timeframe). Maybe SL 6? MJ
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RE: Microsoft takes the wraps off Silverlight 5's planned feature set
PolymorphicNinja 2nd Dec 2010
@Mary Jo Foley
Silverlight has been on the XBox360 for a long time. http://majornelson.com/archive/2009/07/01/advertising-on-xbox-live.aspx
I remember reading somewhere else that it's based on SL3... the same as WP7 and certain versions of embedded.

It's just not directly available to the developer community. Perhaps it's an announcement being saved for MIX11.
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Could anyone please explain the pros and cons of Silverlight vs HMTL5
kenosha77a 2nd Dec 2010
I'm not a professional programmer but I am curious. Could anyone, in a NUTSHELL, briefly describe the pros and cons of coding in Sliverlight vs HMTL5?

My curiosity stems from the observation that Sliverlight seems to have quite a bit "going for it" and I was wondering what prompted Microsoft to shift their coding direction towards HMTL5.

By the way, there is no "hidden agenda" in my questions. I was just curious. Thanks.
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Same here
jk_10 Updated - 2nd Dec 2010
@kenosha7777

I don't know what the hell is HTML5. Only thing I (and everyone else, I think,) know is in HTML5 you can put tag "video", it will play video for you. Then your browser no longer require Flash or Silverlight to do that. Anyone know what else significant in HTML5?

However, Silverlight is not just a media player! I don't see many developer writting media player application in Silverlight. Most of work I see is line of bussiness application that doing things like desktop applicaton does. On that matter, is there anything in HTML5 that makes it easier? I don't think so, because not matter you do HTML1 or 2 or 5, it relies Javascript to do the logic. That's essentially telling developer to go back to Javascript! That has nothing to do with HTML5, or 6 or 8, or 100!

I had never heard one person who really understand this.
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RE: Microsoft takes the wraps off Silverlight 5's planned feature set
bmonsterman 3rd Dec 2010
@jk_10,

I gotcha dude. Silverlight makes a great development UI for line of business apps too!
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RE: Microsoft takes the wraps off Silverlight 5's planned feature set
PolymorphicNinja 8th Dec 2010
@jk_10
HTML5 is a collection of implementation specifications. There are a number of improvements over HTML4 in these specifications, including many that compete with some of the multimedia features of Silverlight and Flash. There are no performance benchmarks/goals to be considered an HTML5 compliant browser, nor do you have to implement the full specification. In other words, a browser can implement the video tag, and nothing else.. and still be considered an HTML5 browser.

These two key points are why Silverlight and Flash are so compelling. With a plug-in such as these, if the feature set is limiting, it's going to be at the platform level itself. Contrast that to HTML5, where you have to check within your javascript code through a series of tests to see if the HTML5 feature you want to utilize is available from browser to browser. Features not available either have to be emulated through the HTML4 feature-set, or you have to simply say your app is not compatible with the browser. And if the feature IS available, how it will perform will differ depending upon the platform/browser combination as well.

HTML5 has a specification for something called a Canvas tag. It's purpose and output is similar to the element of the same name in Silverlight's XAML.

IE9 provides hardware acceleration against this tag which offers a performance experience similar to that of Silverlight's. But again, this is IE9. Firefox and Chrome will offer a similar, but not quite as fast experience (as of today). Silverlight and Flash in all 3 browsers will perform consistently, and has all of the features available.

Javascript is the official language of HTML5. It's basically the HTML5 equivalent to the C# code-behind in a Silverlight xaml page. Syntax preferences aside, most of the nuances with Javascript of yesterday do not really apply today. Most browsers will now compile it during execution (much like Silverlight's binaries compile to native code at runtime)

C# has gotten more javascript-like in recent releases. Particularly with the "var" keyword. Javascript is still not type-safe, and therefore for some, prone a bit more to errors that would be caught at parsing with a type safe language like C#.

So depending upon what turned you off from javascript, your complaint might not even be relevant today. But regardless, you will have to use it (or a tool like Script#) to code HTML5 pages.
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RE: Microsoft takes the wraps off Silverlight 5's planned feature set
bitcrazed 2nd Dec 2010
@kenosha7777

HTML5 generally refers to a whole family of standardization efforts to update and standardize a number of technologies which include HTML, CSS, Javascript, SVG and a whole raft of other web related technologies. For a great overview of what HTML 5 actually is and where we are in the standardization process I encourage you to watch this video:
http://player.microsoftpdc.com/Session/8c96fa4f-9f68-495e-baa3-07455c0e2988

Silverlight, on the other hand, is a technology developed by Microsoft which, at first glance, offers a number of features that are very similar to HTML, but also includes a number of important features that HTML (and the associated family of protocols and standards) do not and cannot support.

Silverlight's benfits include (but are not limited to):
* Silverlight apps render the same on XP, Vista, Win7, OSX without having to resort to the tricks you have to employ sometimes when building HTML sites
* Silverlight is the app platform for Windows Phone
* Silverlight apps enjoy close integration with the client OS - particularly Windows & Windows Phone which means that ...
* ... Silverlight apps can access webcams and other hardware on the client machine
* Silverlight 5 apps will also be able to call any Windows API so that you can write VERY rich and powerful apps.
* Silverlight is VERY VERY fast. WAY faster than even the best Javascript. This is because Silverlight apps are essentially .NET applications and thus execute as raw machine code, not as interpreted scripts
* Silverlight 5 introduces the ability to render and animate 3D models.
* Silverlight also includes very high performance, very high quality video rendering and integrates with Microsoft's powerful video streaming services that were used to stream the last Olympics (and many other sporting events like NBC's Monday Night football) world-wide.

Now, come may shout and scream that Silverlight should be banned and that Microsoft should be shut down - ignore them - they're noise.

HTML5 is a TRULY great thing - all the browser vendors are working (and in fact are required) to fully implement all of the required standards to the letter of the spec. This will result in your HTML code rendering practically identically on every browser. Period.

HTML5 is absolutely essential and will finally free developers from having to spend HUGE amounts of time tweaking their sites to look right regardless of which browser is used.

But HTML is an open standard technology, not based or tied to on any particular platform. HTML apps should never require a particular OS or specific client OS feature. As such, HTML apps will never be able to take full advantage of, nor integrate fully with the client machine's capability.

This is where technologies like Silverlight come in: If you need an app that will work everywhere with moderate levels of performance and sophistication, then use HTML.

If, on the other hand, you want to build REALLY heavy-duty code, or apps that are deeply integrated into the client's OS, then Silverlight is a better choice.
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RE: Microsoft takes the wraps off Silverlight 5's planned feature set
kenosha77a 2nd Dec 2010
@bitcrazed

Thank you.
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RE: Microsoft takes the wraps off Silverlight 5's planned feature set
Nihon8888 2nd Dec 2010
@bitcrazed thanks. v nice summary.
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RE: Microsoft takes the wraps off Silverlight 5's planned feature set
LeeC 3rd Dec 2010
@bitcrazed I'm currently coding games in Flash AS3.0. Do you have any opinions/experience as to how Silverlight compares to Flash in the same aspect? By that, I mean how does it fare with fully interactive entertainment software?

I'm curious as Adobe seem to be leaving CS3 behind, and I can't justify the upgrade cost to CS5. However, if Silverlight is a viable alternative, then I might just switch to XNA and Silverlight instead,
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RE: Microsoft takes the wraps off Silverlight 5's planned feature set
PolymorphicNinja 8th Dec 2010
@bitcrazed

Oops.. I replied to an earlier post here and managed to duplicate your efforts.

One thing should be noted though.. Some browsers now compile their javascript code to native code similarly to how .Net compiles CIL to native code.
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RE: Microsoft takes the wraps off Silverlight 5's planned feature set
bmonsterman Updated - 3rd Dec 2010
@kenosha7777,

There is a trade-off between rich and reach when it comes to RIA type of programming. Silverlight has more UI capabilities than HTML5. Probably, if Microsoft continues to invest in Silverlight, it will continue to be able to provide a more rich UI. That is because Silverlight isn't burdened with having to garner consensus in W3C. However, its blessing is also a curse. Without the standards consensus that HTML5 has in W3C, it's not likely to have the cross platform compatibility that HTML5 has. Thus, HTML5 will have more reach. Both technologies are a vast improvement over traditional HTML (even with AJAX). It's nice to have choices.
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RE: Microsoft takes the wraps off Silverlight 5's planned feature set
mikefarinha 3rd Dec 2010
@bmonsterman

A great way to look at it is that Silverlight and Flash blaze a trail while standards like HTML 5 pave the trail already traveled.
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You mean "SilverBlight"
Ron Bergundy 2nd Dec 2010
because its a blight to the internet. twice as slow as flash, less capabilitys and NO ONE USES IT!.
Its a POS
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Go home, look at your self in the mirror, and see
jk_10 2nd Dec 2010
How stupid you are!
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RE: Microsoft takes the wraps off Silverlight 5's planned feature set
Darkninja962@... 2nd Dec 2010
@cyberspammer2
It's actually used by quite a lot of businesses. My company decided recently to start using it to replace out old website, and I just noticed a couple days ago that Netflix uses it. Seems pretty quick to me. I've never had any problems with it. And I don't know about the less capability than Flash thing, I don't have too much experience in that area, but I will say that programming for Silverlight is much, much less of a pain than writing Action Script. Visual Studio is very nice in that regard.
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FOOLS
theo_durcan 2nd Dec 2010
@Darkninja962@...
Silverlight penetration has stagned a little more than 50%
How can an intelligent person use a technology that only 55% people will have access?
If you are to launch TOMORROW your online sales site, are you leaving 45% of your customers out?

http://www.statowl.com/custom_ria_market_penetration.php
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RE: Microsoft takes the wraps off Silverlight 5's planned feature set
mibjr Updated - 2nd Dec 2010
@theo_durcan

...and yet this site: http://www.riastats.com/# shows that the user base jumped up to over 60%? Seems like the user base is increasing to me.

...guess it depends on who you ask.
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RE: Microsoft takes the wraps off Silverlight 5's planned feature set
bitcrazed 2nd Dec 2010
@theo_durcan: what does "stagned" mean?

As more and more sporting, live events and movie/media "channels" start streaming via Silverlight, you'll see Silverlight's penetration increase. And as more and more apps ship which take advantage of Silverlight's rich app capabilities, again, it's penetration will increase.

I would not be AT ALL surprised if future versions of Windows ship with Silverlight included. This will, as people upgrade also increase Silverlight's footprint.

The fact of the matter is that there are a HUGE number of apps that NEED integration with the client Windows OS - either to access locally stored files, access client hardware (webcam, smart-card, etc), and need to do real processing (no, javascript is still a LONG way off beating compiled code), then Silverlight is a great choice.
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RE: Microsoft takes the wraps off Silverlight 5's planned feature set
PolymorphicNinja 2nd Dec 2010
@theo_durcan
There are a significant number of intranet-based Silverlight apps out there. The organization I work for currently has no less than 3 critical ones.

Not everything has to be public-facing and for general user consumption to be "successful".

I agree with bitcrazed. But because of legalities, I think Microsoft will eventually ship Silverlight as part of the .Net framework and hide it in there. All it takes is one critical app embedded in Windows 8 to be written with it, and therefore justify a great enough dependency to ensure it's shipped with the OS.
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RE: Microsoft takes the wraps off Silverlight 5's planned feature set
jhughesy 3rd Dec 2010
@Darkninja962@... Silverlight has been growing here in Netherlands around 1% per month and now stands at 80%. happy
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RE: Microsoft takes the wraps off Silverlight 5's planned feature set
njoho 3rd Dec 2010
@theo_durcan

There is a falacy in your argument that only 50-55% of people have access to Silverlight. In fact, I suspect >95% of internet users are using devices that are Silverlight compatible. The remaining 45% of not left out, but you need to make the proposition attractive enough for them to take a couple of minutes to install it. For a simple online sales site, I would agree this might be tough, but there are plenty of much more complex applications that most certain can benefit from Silverlight.

I'm an engineer on a web application that delivers an improved experience through Silverlight, and a simpler experience through HTML. It's significantly cheaper/quicker for us to build both like this, than attempt to build a deeply engaging solution in HTML/Javascript only.

The bottom line is that most users only need to take one look at the Silverlight version to know which they would prefer to use. As always, its the applications that drive the demand to install the run-time - my experience is that if the application is compelling enough, customers all too willingly install the pre-requisites.
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RE: Microsoft takes the wraps off Silverlight 5's planned feature set
audidiablo 2nd Dec 2010
@cyberspammer2

I feel you are misguided and uninformed. There are a lot of people developing on the Silverlight platform and many who prefer it over Flash. It is also written in code people are familiar with. Amazingly last night I was just talking with someone who is looking forward to Silverlight 5 in Cupertino... Ironic ain't it?
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SL vs SWF
theo_durcan 2nd Dec 2010
@audidiablo
Doesnt matter there are "a lot of people" developing in Silverlight, we know there are many clueless MSCD people out there.
Same can be said about Flash developers, there are millions, but at least Flash is a valid alternative, not Silverlight, I mean, how can you justify developing a technology that at least 45% of people won't be able to access?
Not to mention the fact that already SL is death by own MS admision, at least they are understanding that they can't control the net, so they are abandoning proprietary solutions in favor of HTML5
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RE: Microsoft takes the wraps off Silverlight 5's planned feature set
bitcrazed 2nd Dec 2010
@theo_durcan - where are these 45% of people who cannot use Silverlight? The only people who cannot use Silverlight are *N*X users ... and even they can use Novell/Attachmate's Moonlight.

Anyone running Windows can run Silverlight. it takes 30s to install and doesn't require a reboot.

After which, you can run any Silverlight app as quickly as you can load a web page.
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RE: Microsoft takes the wraps off Silverlight 5's planned feature set
bmonsterman Updated - 3rd Dec 2010
@theo_durcan,

Why all the hate? BTW, MSCD is so 90's...it's now MCPD...but not really all that important. Flash is a decent platform for serving up media, but it's not for developing applications. From a language/IDE perspective, for developing applications, there simply is no comparison between Visual Studio 2010 with .NET and Adobe Flex builder with Active Script. For data driven applications, Flash has nothing on WCF, Linq and Entity Framework. For building line of business apps, Silverlight is just the better tool.
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RE: Microsoft takes the wraps off Silverlight 5's planned feature set
abhilashca 2nd Dec 2010
@cyberspammer2
First try building a Silverlight Application. And then if you know to build Flash Application, build that too. Run it in your Favourite Browser (might be Firefox) and feel the difference and Richness.
"$ilverlight is Rich".
But, the entrance of HTML5 has created a dilemma in the Developer Community. And, it'll be a Great News for the already confused developer conmunity that Silverlight 5 is baking in the Microsoft Labs.
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trolling?
balsover 2nd Dec 2010
@cyberspammer2 do you have anything intelligent to write?

I get tired of reading what appears to be from 12 year old wannabees; professionals do not conduct themselves in that manner.

Even if it didn't have the abilities of flash which is documented as bug ridden (one of the few cases that I agreed wth Jobs), how does that register as a 'blight'?
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RE: Microsoft takes the wraps off Silverlight 5's planned feature set
bobiroc 2nd Dec 2010
@cyberspammer2

I see now why you have spammer in your display name. You trolls are all the same. Come here and change the name of Microsoft Product "X" to something derogatory and follow that with something that is not even close to being true or was partially true of a Microsoft product 15+ years ago when comparing it to a competitor's product of today. I feel very sorry for you.
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RE: Microsoft takes the wraps off Silverlight 5's planned feature set
mibjr 2nd Dec 2010
@cyberspammer2

No one uses it? Maybe you should talk to one of my clients. I created an in-house SL app for them, they came back with a bunch of other features that they would like to see implemented in version 2. "Hey can you do this? How about adding that?"

...like some 2 year-old kid in Toys-R-Us for the first time.
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RE: Microsoft takes the wraps off Silverlight 5's planned feature set
bmonsterman 3rd Dec 2010
@cyberspammer2,

Twice as slow as flash? Show me some numbers.
Less capabilities? Ok...what capabilities is it missing?
No one uses it? I wouldn't say that. Netflix uses it.
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RE: Microsoft takes the wraps off Silverlight 5's planned feature set
garry@... 2nd Dec 2010
Comparing SL and HTML5 is like apples and oranges - they are very different beasts. SL is like winforms and requires a browser runtime. HTML5 is simply a markup language which when blended with Ajax can mimic RIA apps. SL is much easier to use and build powerful RIA apps.
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SL is another MS trap
theo_durcan 2nd Dec 2010
same as IE6. hear the pain now from those poor people trapped in IE6, a few years later, same will happens to those poor fools building SL "solutions" today.
HTML5 is the way to go. When all mayor players are aligned, there is not any discussion anymore.
Silverlight is DOA. And Flash will slowly slide to irrelevance.
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RE: Microsoft takes the wraps off Silverlight 5's planned feature set
mibjr Updated - 2nd Dec 2010
@theo_durcan

I don't think it's DOA. From what I've seen (and worked with) so far, I wouldn't be surprised if Silverlight is around when HTML5 specs become final and beyond (note: i'm referring to 2011/2012, not 2022). There's just too much in SL for it to be abandoned in a snap, plus, it appears to have a decent-sized user base. I cannot remember who said this during the SL event today, but there are well over a million developers/designers designing apps using Silverlight.

Besides, SL appears to be geared towards designing business applications and apps running on desktop, web and devices (what's this I hear about running SL apps on iPad? I missed that...), as opposed to being just some browser plug-in to view a movie in, which is a popular fanboy misunderstanding. There's a heck of a lot you can do with Silverlight. End-users can continue using SL LOB apps today before making the plunge into the world of HTML5. Besides, the SL plugin will work from IE6 (although I'm a firm believer this browser has got to die). Although unfortunately those same people using IE6 won't be able to do much with HTML5 so a browser upgrade is still in order.

One concern I did have was when HTML5 specs become final, what will happen to existing web apps out there that are using the bits and pieces of HTML5 today? Won't those sites break? Although I'm eager to look forward to the future with HTML5, I sense a horrible fragmentation with browsers, and sites coming down the road.
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VCSY patents used in Silverlight 5
hion 2nd Dec 2010
It's not just a coincidence that Microsoft announced this one day Silverlight Event on the same day that VCSY resceived the final on the continuation patent of the same patent that VCSY and Microsoft settled on by way of a confidential settlement agreement.

On July 25, 2008 Microsoft settled with VCSY by way of CONFIDENTIAL Settlement Agreement the day of the scheduled Markman Hearing: BRThere was no public press release by either VCSY or Microsoft about the confidential settlement agreement)

Pursuant to the confidential settlement agreement, the Company has granted to Microsoft a non-exclusive, fully paid-up license under the patent which was the subject of the legal proceeding.
http://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1099509/000114420408043346/0001144204-08-043346-index.htm
--------------------

On May 11, 2010 VCSY received the Notice of Issue on the new 7,716,629 patent which is the continuation of the 6,826,744 patent which is the SAME patent that VCSY and Microsoft entered into a CONFIDENTIAL SETTLEMENT AGREEMENT over back on July 25, 2008. VCSY&read=285730
----------------------

November 12, 2010 - Silverlight gets its own one day developer event.
http://news.cnet.com/8301-10805_3-20022684-75.html

November 15, 2010 VCSY sues Interwoven, LG and Samsung for infringing against patents 6826744 and 7716629.
http://www.docstoc.com/docs/62017035/Vertical-Computer-Systems-v-Interwoven-et-al

November 15, 2010 - Google Chrome OS web operating system delayed without explanation.
http://tech.fortune.cnn.com/2010/11/15/googles-eric-schmidt-plays-scrooge-for-chomeos/

November 22, 2010 - Samsung focusing on Windows 7 instead of Android?
http://www.businessinsider.com/samsung-focusing-on-windows-phone-7-not-android-for-2011-2010-11


much more timeline info at url:
http://ajaxamine.tripod.com/index.blog?topic_id=1089847
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RE: Microsoft takes the wraps off Silverlight 5's planned feature set
jhughesy 3rd Dec 2010
Had hoped to hear about the cross-platform vision of Silverlight but absolutely nothing again. All we got was some new features coming in Silverlight 5.
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RE: Microsoft takes the wraps off Silverlight 5's planned feature set
rmac_z Updated - 3rd Dec 2010
@jhughesy

my take is that although we all dreamed about it, companies like Apple and Google are not going to let MS run Silverlight on their platforms (why should they?). We just have to get over it because it's not going to happen. Where does that leave Silverlight? On Windows specific devices only. The crazy thing is where does that leave WPF and why should MS support two good frameworks instead of one absolutely great framework. I can't help feeling MS are waiting for WPF (which scarcely gets a mention) to be superceded by Silverlight although MS will allow market forces will decide that. I also feel MS were never totally serious about 'others' developing Windows apps and that Silverlight is a good trade off because it will ultimately require Azure fed services, but that's just my hunch.

Did anyone hear anything about LOCAL data access through Silverlight e.g. SQL CE 4/SQL Express 2008?
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RE: Microsoft takes the wraps off Silverlight 5's planned feature set
xp-client 3rd Dec 2010
MJF, please ask Microsoft if Silverlight will run on Windows XP and XP 64-bit (since Silverlight 5 will also come in native 64-bit).
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RE: Microsoft takes the wraps off Silverlight 5's planned feature set
out-of-luck 5th Dec 2010
Did anyone pay attention to dates? Microsoft is again announcing things a year in advance - or just announcing vapor ware as Microsoft has already announced its plans for HTML 5 and has shifted Microsoft resources towards HTML 5 and from Silverlight.
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RE: Microsoft takes the wraps off Silverlight 5's planned feature set
mibjr Updated - 6th Dec 2010
@out-of-luck

I take it you didn't attend or view the Silverlight Firestarter event. MS did more than just announce items in advance. They demonstrated what SL5 can do, and also announced a beta of it will be available within a few months for us to play around with. Give them time. I'd prefer them to get things right (for once) instead of rushing things out the door like they do with that darned operating system.

Besides, that whole drama centering around Muglia's comment which added more fuel to the ongoing "Non-Civil Plug-In Fanboy War" is getting old.

Announcing things years in advance doesn't signify that something is vaporware either. It's usually part of something that many in the developer world would call a roadmap. What's coming up in the next release, when's the beta coming out, when is the final product going to be released, etc... Take for example...HTML5. It was in the works since, what...2004? It won't be ready for prime-time within a year or two and anything can change between now and then. Yet it's far from vaporware and has a heck of a roadmap on what to expect.
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In this excitement about Silverlight....we forget about IE
sharmahemant@... 6th Dec 2010
Here is a message for the folks at Microsoft. If you made IE (Internet Explorer) available on Linux and Macintosh, you'd basically make Silverlight Cross-Platform!! How simple is that!! HTML 5 will never replace Silverlight....so why not think out of the box....make IE work everywhere, and silverlight will just follow!!
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RE: Microsoft takes the wraps off Silverlight 5's planned feature set
mibjr 6th Dec 2010
@sharmahemant@...

Ok two things:

1. IE is already available on the Mac and so is Silverlight. Linux, well, they have Moonlight which is an open-source version of Silverlight. Aside from political reasons, I don't know why MS isn't getting Silverlight to work on Linux. Oh, and I wouldn't hold my breath for MS to release a Linux version of IE.

2. It's a bit more complicated than that. For Microsoft to accomplish this, they would have to integrate Silverlight into IE9 instead of it being a standalone plugin. Which I don't think is the case.
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RE: Microsoft takes the wraps off Silverlight 5's planned feature set
bobiroc 7th Dec 2010
@mibjr

I am not sure when the last time you checked was but IE is not available on Mac. The last version of IE that was on MacOS was version 5 and then Microsoft discontinued development.
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RE: Microsoft takes the wraps off Silverlight 5's planned feature set
mibjr Updated - 6th Dec 2010
double-post. Sorry.
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RE: Microsoft takes the wraps off Silverlight 5's planned feature set
Orangelight 12th Dec 2010
It's too late and too less features for SL5. Late 2011 - 2 years late from MS competition.
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RE: Microsoft takes the wraps off Silverlight 5's planned feature set
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