6 ms·

Silverlight + "Intranet" is always a good combo. I'd say a better replacement for smart-client apps.

• glhaynes 16y ago
  As long as your users don't want to use most mobile devices. I'd much rather put out HTML5 apps where possible... intranet apps in particular seem to tend to live for longer than you ever thought possible. But, yeah, it's definitely nice for certain scenarios.
• cpr 16y ago
  Sure, but an even better replacement would just be modern webapps.
  • kenjackson 16y ago
    Why? On the intranet you're likely dictating the browser/technology used anyways. Why not simply use what's best for the specific job. If it's Flash, Silverlight, HTML5, rich client app, virtual machine, etc...
    • contextfree 16y ago
      in particular, CLR on the client -> much less painful development
    • cpr 16y ago
      Because then you're not hostage to any company's particular technologies.
      • kenjackson 16y ago
        So I should not use the best tool for the job, and give up say 5x productivity, in the fear that some company will take me hostage -- especially since AFAIK, this has never happened. And if it has happened it has happened an order of magnitude less frequently as projects getting killed by using the wrong tools. That I've seen happen first hand, including as recently as last year.
        • city41 16y ago
          I've been writing a Silverlight app at my job for the past 8 months. I don't feel like Silverlight has given me any kind of productivity boost. I actually find Silverlight to be rather heavyweight and slow going, especially RIA Services which is boilerplate central. I may have a bit of a "grass is greener" outlook, but I do feel my productivity would be higher with a web framework such as RoR. Especially if I was just as good at Ruby/RoR/JS as I am now at C#/Silverlight (I've been using .NET professionaly since its debut)
          • kenjackson 16y ago
            Then don't use Silverlight. My point wasn't to use SL per se. It was to use the best tool for the job. If you're most productive writing in 6502 assembly and then writing a binary rewriter to convert it to Logo, which you then compile to Javascript, go for it.
        • vetinari 16y ago
          Did you consider all factors, when you are so sure about it being the best tool for a job? Few years ago, there were many people absolutely sure, that creating IE6-only webapps is also best decision. And look today, where that decision got them.
          • kenjackson 16y ago
            Then don't write any code, because clearly you don't have enough belief that you (or I or whoever) can weigh the various tradeoffs to make the right decision.
            • vetinari 16y ago
              Too often the decision masquerading as "best tool for the job" is in reality "the technology I'm fan of". I really would not want to be the person, who few years since now is responsible for maintenance of some legacy Silverlight application. It is going to be exactly ugly as maintaing IE6 only application today. The difference is, that it is easier to avoid that now. I really don't know what would make Silverlight best tool today (except for very specialized solutions). No, support in VS does not count.