Microsoft may open source its Flash-killing Silverlight
By John Pospisil
Microsoft is said to be planning to open source parts of its upcoming Silverlight browser plugin in a bid to attract developers.
An official annoucement is expected at MIX 07, according to a report by PC World, which cited unnamed sources close to Microsoft. MIX is a conference for web developers run by Microsoft; this year is the second time the event has been run.
A direct competitor to Adobe’s Flash, Silverlight is a cross-browser, cross-platform plug-in for delivering the “next generation of media experiences and rich interactive applications (RIA)” for the Web.
In other words Silverlight allows web content producers to offer rich video and interactive media from within Web pages.
Microsoft may have decided to court the open source community after Adobe annouced that it would open source its Flex software development kit (SDK) by the end of this year. Flex is designed help programmers work with the Flash platform by giving them a workflow and programming model they are more familiar with, compared to the Flash’s traditional animation metaphor.
A number of web development companies are on the record expressing support for Silverlight. For example, the CEO of SynCast, Lance Ware, believes Silverlight will bring significant cost benefits for its customers.
“Integrating Silverlight into our digital media solutions will enable us to deliver content efficiently with significant cost benefits for customers looking to deploy rich online experiences,” said Ware.
“With the support of leading communications companies Level 3 and Global Crossing, we are able to reach unrivaled bandwidth efficiencies using Silverlight-based solutions, a major step toward meeting the demand to deliver cost effective video experiences without compromising quality.”
The co-founder of Limelight Netorks, Nathan Raiborski, believes Silverlight will “revolutionize” the experiences provided by his company.
“High-performance is integral to our success and ongoing leadership as a content delivery network. With Microsoft Silverlight we’re supporting a platform that will revolutionize the capabilities and experiences we can provide, using scalable and recognized technologies already deployed by our customers.”
Still, it remains to be seen whether Microsoft really has a chance of dislodging Adobe from its dominant position as a supplier of tools for web content development.
It could be construed that Microsoft is cynically trying to use the open source community to build momentum for Silverlight and take market share from Adobe. Or on the other hand, maybe Microsoft is finally starting to understand that open source can lead to win-win scenarios for all involved.
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