I really hope that Silverlight 2.0 is as big a failure as Silverlight 1.0 was. We don't need another flash clone out there cluttering up our browsers with MSFT useless advertising. MSFT software is slow enough, take vista for example, so why will silverlight be any faster?

Right now I am searching for a list to add Microsoft adservers to my host files. UGH!

Out of topic but intesting
The U.S. voted no on Microsoft Office standard at ISO
The U.S. voted no.

As Andy Updegrove notes, the vote involved approving over 900 changes to OOXML meant to bring about a consensus leading to approval of the proprietary format as an international standard.

The problem is not with the Microsoft technology. The problem is with the Microsoft attitude, which seems eerily similar to what we’ve seen in U.S. politics for a long time now. Despite all Microsoft’s claims to have changed, the company remains a prisoner of its time.

And the times they are a-changin’. Even if Microsoft succeeds here, its tide is going out.
http://blogs.zdnet.com/open-source/?p=2077

why not just use SVG?

It will be interesting to see who from this administration winds up at Microsoft or a Microsoft ad agency. Purely by coincidence of course.

SilverLight 1.0 was a huge failure was because it was, IMO, prematurely released. Developers looked at it and went "you're kidding, right?". There was a SEVERE lack of controls and language support. SL 2.0, however, addresses these issues and as soon as it's released I will no longer have to worry about having to learn flash as I can develop SL apps in C#, VB , JS, IronPython.NET and I'm sure a myriad of other langs that are going to pop up for the DLR. Whereas with flex (correct me if I'm wrong here) only allows one language? Regardless, I can use C# with SL 2.0 and not have to endure another learning curve for RIA app development.

Ultimately, I think we'll see a huge migration to SL 2.0 from developers who are trying their hand at Flash but who are rooted in .NET.

Silverlight is actually very interesting for the developer. We are in the process of converting Flash graphs to Silverlight graphs. The big benefit to us is that we can paint the canvas using an XML style syntax, called XAML. And, the fact that we can embed the XAML directly into HTML means that we can build Silverlight apps the same way that we build a web app.

Silverlight or rather, online advertising is where Microsoft is going these days. After all, its really a part of online advertising as much as buying Yahoo is. If anything, Silverlight needs Yahoo to have any chance at all.

I have to agree with The Hand, when he wants to block all Microsoft Adservers by using the host blocking file included in every operating system.

Adobe Flash was also a big pain for me, and I made sure it was uninstalled in the past. In the last couple of years, though, Adobe Flash actually became more useful with some good content other than ads. But I think the thing that allows me to have Adobe Flash on my computers at all, is Firefox with the flashblock extenstion installed. That way I can play only the flash movies I want off a site. Not everyone wants their bandwidth uses up by Silverlight or Flash. At last count, 30% of those using internet in the USA, were doing so on dialup. Anyone on dialup really want to want forever while flash movies load up? Not me. So Silverlight will have the same problems, except if its installed, there will be no way as of yet, to stop the ads from loading, except to uninstall it, or block the servers. Anyone with limited bandwidth shouldn't install Silverlight.

So where exactly is Microsoft going these days?

Look at their rivals and what the EU is doing, and that tells the anwsers.

Microsoft's rivals are; Google, Adobe, Sony, IBM, Red Hat, Linux. I do not include Mac, as Microsoft owns 25% of the non-voting stock there.

The Xbox is being cut back in scope. As many units as it sold, Sony is still beating it there. While its true that MS sells more Xbox than Sony sells PS3, its not that many. And when you add in the Sony PS2 figures, MS is really a distant 3rd, at best. The Xbox terrible designed hardware failures, and the decision to try and hurt Sony by including Toshiba HD-DVD drives in some of the XBox360, does not help the future of the XBox Line. End of Story, Sony wins.

So MS is putting all it eggs now in one basket, online advertising. For several reasons;

1. All that cash sitting around in dollars is losing valve. The decline of the dollar.

2. The Windows OS platform is in danger without the power of Lockin. And it seems now that the EU is determed to make MS play fair without the lockin, and to use open standards, and become interoperable. Even Steve Ballmer knows when this happens, Windows days are numbered as a monopoly.

3. The same thing goes for Office, the EU is already investigating it, and I would expect a further investigating as to what MS is doing to bribe it into the ISO standards, should that pass.

4. Yahoo, while everyone looks at that as a way to compete with Google, is not the end of the story. True, MS wants to compete with Google in this way, but its more. The EU is now actually watching MS, unlike the rubber stamp in bed with MS US DOJ. The best and old way for MS to jump start Silverlight would be to just put in a service pack, and the next OS windows Seven. They cannot do this, as it will be Netscape and the DOJ all over again, with the EU watching. So the best way to compete with Adobe is to buy Yahoo, and give Silverlight away on that site. Even make most things work on MS-Yahoo with Silverlight. That is the plan.

Also, I should point out that MS giving away its Silverlight product in this way to the Library of Congress, is a form of unfair business practices, know as dumping. Adobe should take legal action on this, if they have not already started.

Joe Willcox say;

"Silverlight bundling is Microsoft's obvious next move. As soon as Microsoft starts using Silverlight for some Live service or product, the plug-in will become part of the Windows Live installer. It's not a matter of if but when.

Almost certainly, Silverlight will be a plug-in provided with or even built into Internet Explorer 8, which is about to go into select beta testing. Browser bundling would be a huge Silverlight distribution mechanism that Microsoft can't ignore."
----------------------------------------------------
Doesn't this sound like what MS did almost with Internet Explorer into the Windows Operating System? Remember the Netscape and the US Department of Justice case?

Adobe needs to be bringing this up to the DOJ and the EU, right now and stop this type of monopoly behavior in the bud. In fact, it looks like the Yahoo buyout is more of an attack on Adobe Flash than Google, at this point.

Adobe also needs to port Photoshop and other programs to Linux, as a way of punishing MS, as well as protecting itself.

Compared to what Google paid to Dell to get customers for Google toolbar (1 billion), paying "just" 3 millions for Silverlight customers seems reasonable enought :)

A quick look at Microsoft's own Silverlight page: No support for Linux and limited MacOS support, while Adobe Flash fully supports both.

I also note that by default Silverlight updates itself and sends information about your computer to Microsoft, which I would not be happy about.

What exactly is the point of Silverlight, other than to compete with Adobe Flash for competition's sake?

I have already written my congressmen & senators with regards to how absolutely DISGUSTING it is that the US Government would actually even consider using a proprietary technology such as this. This move will prevent average US Citizens from accessing their own documents without paying a significant Microsoft Tax. I do NOT use MS Windows, and never will - paying $200 or more for crap software which actively promotes the creation of viruses and trojans, not to mention other security issues, is absofukinglutely asinine! For the US Government to actually FORCE ME to do it as absurd.
Why stop there? The US Gov't should force everyone to believe in GOD as well - why not? There's no difference (except maybe that GOD is slightly cheaper and more secure than any Microsoft product!)

Disgusting!

Mj Marshall. Thank you for noting that. Any time I see some MS tech or software, it's like okay, it'll work only on Windows or Windows best. Leveraging monopoly as usual...

As for Google paying Dell, it is different isn't it? These are taxpayers who may not be able to utilize all the Library of Congress due to this silverlight stuff. Although the section is really limited at Dell for non-Windows boxes. I've bought 2 Ubuntu laptops. So I got some without Google Toolbar ;) Will Library of Congress offer a Flash version or an alternative to silverlight in whatever content that delivers?

Unfortunately both MS and Bill Gates do this all the time. It is charity, as long as Windows is involved. Happened in Paris recently.

There is a Linux version in Mono called Moonlight... I'm sure it will be portable to other OS's too. But I doubt it will be 100% perfect, as a certain corporation seems to "break things" with each new release.

This will probably last about as long as it takes the LOC to figure out that Silverlight (and its Mono equivalent Moonlight) is of no use to Section 508(c)3 users (accessibility), which they are required to be accessible for, and of no use to anyone other than Windows users, and possibly 32-bit x86 users of other systems - depending on how well Moonlight ports between archs. But even then, they'll still have to maintain a non-Silverlight site because not everyone will be able to use Silverlight/Moonlight. So, it'll probably last until they realize the additional cost burden that it is, and that it does not support their legal requirement (i.e. Section 508(c)3). Hopefully the LOC will wise up sooner rather than later. (FYI - Flash has many of the same problems, though Adobe and others at least have ports for non-Windows, no-32-bit platforms readily available.)

@Chips:

MS sold all the Apple stock ages ago.

Someone, or some group, needs to sue the LOC now, and get this mess out in the open. I've actually had city gov't webmasters tell me 'we only support Micro$oft browsers'. Well, guess what, we only need one good precedent to make other institutions think twice about vendor lockins...

We don't need another flash clone out there cluttering up our browsers with MSFT useless advertising. MSFT software is slow enough, take vista for example, so why will silverlight be any faster?

Right now I am searching for a list to add Microsoft adservers to my host files. UGH!