Remember Silverlight? Ya neither did I, but it looks like the wheels are still turning over at Microsoft and the competitor to Flash (which seems to be everyone lately) is getting a bump up in the latest release of 3.0.
One of the biggest improvements for Silverlight 3.0 is 720P+ no buffer video streaming called “smooth streaming”. After a quick test in Chrome this proved to be true and was a very excellent experience. The smooth streaming feature was used during Michael Jackson’s memorial service and worked quite well.
There are also a multitude of other bug fixes and video improvements as well as the ability to make offline applications much like Adobe Air. Silverlight also touts the 3D support and GPU acceleration that comes built in with Silverlight increasing the speed of online games and improving the overall experience.
While these updates are no doubt a few leaps forward I have yet to come across a site besides Microsoft’s own properties that required me to download Silverlight. Developer support just does not exist, but take a look at Flash and people are flocking to the platform in droves. This is especially true with the advent of Adobe Air and Twitter.
There exists a very long and rough road ahead for the Silverlight team. Currently Flash dominates the web and no one can deny that. As HTML 5 becomes standard across all browsers it will become even harder for people to have a reason to download Silverlight, much less develop on top of it. These updates are splendid but in the long run they truly don’t matter. Everyone is Flash and HTML 5 and no one is leaving that train in the near future.
