Today, Microsoft’s Silverlight, the cross-plugin Flash rivaling platform from Microsoft, is making its debut in version 1.0. The product has been looked upon as worthy for its rich capabilities and so far only tested by a handful of early adopters — this launch bringing it right into the mainstream consumer market.
As well as a stable version, Silverlight will be making its way into Linux with ’Moonlight’ — a partnership with Novell to deliver something based on the Mono project with the same name. Additionally, a handful of content providers are making their content available for Silverlight in its launch, including Hollywood’s Entertainment Tonight, HSN, and World Wrestling Entertainent.
Microsoft has so far demo’d some of Silverlight’s capabilities with its own rich applications Popfly and Tafiti. Agreeably, Silverlight is a wise platform choice for powerful applications – although Adobe’s own attempts with AIR and Flex have a major lead in terms of platform penetration.
It’ll be interesting to see where Silverlight heads — and if it survives at all. Its success depends on its developers, and so far there haven’t been any compelling apps that have really left me dazzled.
