Flash Vs. Silverlight

[kleinma]

Which one do you think holds the most potential for future applications?

I found a pretty neat app at the British Library website

Currently it only has 16 books, but its pretty cool to mess around with.

The original one was done in flash, and can hardly hold a candle to the beta of the silverlight edition.

The only drawback I have seen so far, is that the silverlight version uses anywhere between 200 and 300 MB of ram when running. I hope they optimize the site, but it is using pretty high resolution images, so I guess that has something to do with the memory usage...

Flash Version
http://www.bl.uk/onlinegallery/ttp/ttpbooks.html

New Silverlight Version
http://ttpdownload.bl.uk/browserapp.xbap

[techgnome]

Hmmm...... FireFox doesn't know what to do with a xbap file.... wants to download it....

-tg

[nemaroller]

Silverlight will obviously become a serious contender to Flash.

The integration the designer suite has to the workflow with Visual Studio means a strong connect has now been made between the designer and the website developer.

The fact that it will run on OSX and Windows will remove barriers to industry acceptance (and no - no one cares about Linux desktop OS's).

[nemaroller]

Hmmm...... FireFox doesn't know what to do with a xbap file.... wants to download it....

-tg

You have to install the plug-in of course.

[Arrow_Raider]

Flash and silverlight are the opposite of what the web is supposed to be.

If you NEED to use them(even though you don't) as a key component of your site, at the very least, you should provide an alternative version of the site that doesn't contain the flash or silverlight elements.

[nemaroller]

Flash and silverlight are the opposite of what the web is supposed to be.

HTML is the opposite of what the web was supposed to be.

[Arrow_Raider]

The silverlight one froze

[kleinma]

Hmmm...... FireFox doesn't know what to do with a xbap file.... wants to download it....

-tg

I know silverlight DOES work in firefox, so it could just be an issue with the plugin... I know its all still beta at the moment.

[techgnome]

It's probably the lack of the plugin then....as I know I haven't installed it since getting this new PC....

Which is what annoys me about some of this technology, they all require a plugin or require some sort of smoke and mirror setup to make it all work. What ever happened to simplicity?

-tg

[kleinma]

Flash and silverlight are the opposite of what the web is supposed to be.

If you NEED to use them(even though you don't) as a key component of your site, at the very least, you should provide an alternative version of the site that doesn't contain the flash or silverlight elements.

lol, who has the right to say what the web should and should not be? Certainly not you. Certainly not me either.

I guess sites like youtube fit into the category of the opposite of what the web should be then?

[kleinma]

It's probably the lack of the plugin then....as I know I haven't installed it since getting this new PC....

Which is what annoys me about some of this technology, they all require a plugin or require some sort of smoke and mirror setup to make it all work. What ever happened to simplicity?

-tg

The plugin is 2-3MB in size and does not carry ANY other dependancies, like .NET framework etc...


all it requires is a browser and OS that supports the runtime, which is going to be Windows XP and up or Mac OSX

IE, firefox, Safari are supported browsers but obviously not Firefox for linux since that is not a qualifying OS. However I would not be surprised to see a linux plugin emerge...

[wossname]

The linux community is weeping with despair at this tragic news.

[kleinma]

Linux people only like text anyway

[wossname]

Damn right.

[mendhak]

Silverlight for Linux - ready in 21 days.

[wossname]

Nice.

[kleinma]

now you can make pretty text based things woss!

[wossname]

You lookin' at my pint?

[nemaroller]

The linux community is weeping with despair at this tragic news.

Translation:
Fools! How can you promote OSX over Linux?! Your day of reckoning will soon come! Be warned!

[nemaroller]

Nice.

Translation:
Ah.. never mind. Good show and give the wife a pat on the behind for me.

[wossname]

Linux sucks. OSX is second only to MS in the awesomeness stakes. Hell yeah.

[nemaroller]

He's back!

[wossname]

They pay you for this?

[nemaroller]

Yes and very handsomely..

[nemaroller]

Of course we shouldn't detract the spectacular awe that is Linux - based largely on an another operating system invented 30+ years ago.

[kregg]

I can see that the Silverlight version has more potential, although I prefer the Flash one. Maybe because I'm used to it, or because there is so much lag trying to load up a book on this PC. Anyway, Silverlight is in Beta stage, so it's only a matter of time that Silverlight will be as successful as Flash, or possibly beat it.

[szlamany]

I just heard that Silverlight 1.1 can deliver VB.Net type code functionality in a browser window - with just a plug-in download...

I was told that a GUI can be handed off to a user in a browser window using this technology...

Does this make sense to you guys?

Is this going to be the future of Webforms that can approach the functional strength of Winforms?

[techgnome]

yes and no.... I see it being usefull in certain application... a travel site, libraries, and other places where user interaction is heavy. BUT.... it's not the holy grail it's sometimes portrayed as.... there seems to be this expectation that it becomes the desktop killer and all kinds of apps will get web-itized..... Then there's the buzzword factor to take into consideration.... management hears of this, hears how great it is, and orders their apps to be ported over ....

The other problem I have with it, is that doing apps in this manner almost requires some kind of web designer to do the UI.... I don't know about anyone else, but I can do win app UIs fairly easily..... but when it comes to web pages... even my own.... I suffer a serious lack of talent.

It's not the great panacea of destiny.... but it is a possibility.... and with .NET 3.5/WPF/SL ... I see apps that can be desktop-based... or web-based.... with out actually changing any code at all. The only difference would be where the shortcut points to - your computer... or a webserver. I've been expecting this ever since .NET came out.... the lines beween WebForms and WinForms is blurring.

-tg

[Arrow_Raider]

There is nothing better than a good old installed application running locally on my computer. Anything else is inferior. Web apps aren't the way of the future. And if they, I want no part in the future.

[techgnome]

Oh, I don't know about that.... I think they have their place.... but they definitely are not the end-all be-all that some people make them out to be. It'll just be one additional option. Nothing more.

-tg

[kleinma]

the reason web apps will never totally replace the desktop is security...

no matter how fancy google will ever get with their spreadsheet and word applications, I still don't like the idea of MY DATA sitting on THEIR SERVER.

All I can do is trust that they say its safe and no one is looking at it..

[techgnome]

agreed... Depending on the application, I think it makes perfect sense.... but for day to day, general computing.... it stinks...

-tg

[szlamany]

My problem is that I've got admin folks at board of ed's thinking that just because teachers want to access student grades from home (which is a security nightmare in itself) that all aspects of our student management system should be in a web-app. Loading attendance - changing schedules...

Students want to load next year's requests for courses from home - that makes sense.

Parents want a portal into seeing their student's achievement - that makes sense.

But why does that mean that everything needs to be outside the firewall?

So I'm looking for a safe way to start considering delivery of student data to the web...