4 ms·

I thought this was a refreshing move. They've accepted the situation and adjusted their strategy accordingly. The only other option seems to be ignoring reality

by jeroen 16y ago

I thought this was a refreshing move. They've accepted the situation and adjusted their strategy accordingly. The only other option seems to be ignoring reality and continuing on their old course, which won't do anything to improve the success of Silverlight. Even Adobe seems to have given up the fight and accepted html5 as the winner (given their demo's of html5 authoring tools recently).

steverb 16y ago
I do wish MS would release a SL to HTML5 compiler though. That would mitigate a lot of the rancor.
- DrJokepu 16y ago
  That would be a hard cookie. In many ways, Silverlight has a lot more features than HTML5 and it is also compiled to binary. I guess it would be possible to compile the binary to some sort of JavaScript and emulate some of the Silverlight API, but I seriously doubt that it would yield very convincing results.
  - steverb 16y ago
    I agree, but in my mind it doesn't need to be perfect. Just good enough to get the bones to dance a little, and frankly, there isn't a lot you can do in SL that you can't do in javascript / HTML.
- Encosia 16y ago
  I could be wrong, but I don't think translating between Silverlight and actual web development with an acceptable level of fidelity is realistic. If it were, ASP.NET WebForms 3.5 and 4.0 would have implemented something like that to begin with and Silverlight would have never existed.
- city41 16y ago
  I can't see how this would work or be effective. It could possibly work for the smaller, more media oriented Silverlight apps. But those apps are relatively painless to port to HTML5 already. For larger, line of business apps, especially those that frequently talk to a server, I can't even imagine where a tool like this would begin.
jasonlotito 16y ago
Actually, I think Microsoft is doing developers a lot of good by keeping Silverlight in use in other areas, for Windows Phone development, for example. The technology is still useful, and they can transfer their skills to this new area. So, rather than just dumping Silverlight, they are still using it in other key areas, areas they are looking to help developers make money with. Don't tell me Flash developers wouldn't love to have a mobile platform where they could use their skills to develop applications on.

by jeroen 16y ago

steverb 16y ago

I do wish MS would release a SL to HTML5 compiler though. That would mitigate a lot of the rancor.

DrJokepu 16y ago
That would be a hard cookie. In many ways, Silverlight has a lot more features than HTML5 and it is also compiled to binary. I guess it would be possible to compile the binary to some sort of JavaScript and emulate some of the Silverlight API, but I seriously doubt that it would yield very convincing results.
- steverb 16y ago
  I agree, but in my mind it doesn't need to be perfect. Just good enough to get the bones to dance a little, and frankly, there isn't a lot you can do in SL that you can't do in javascript / HTML.
Encosia 16y ago
I could be wrong, but I don't think translating between Silverlight and actual web development with an acceptable level of fidelity is realistic. If it were, ASP.NET WebForms 3.5 and 4.0 would have implemented something like that to begin with and Silverlight would have never existed.
city41 16y ago
I can't see how this would work or be effective. It could possibly work for the smaller, more media oriented Silverlight apps. But those apps are relatively painless to port to HTML5 already. For larger, line of business apps, especially those that frequently talk to a server, I can't even imagine where a tool like this would begin.

jasonlotito 16y ago

Actually, I think Microsoft is doing developers a lot of good by keeping Silverlight in use in other areas, for Windows Phone development, for example. The technology is still useful, and they can transfer their skills to this new area. So, rather than just dumping Silverlight, they are still using it in other key areas, areas they are looking to help developers make money with. Don't tell me Flash developers wouldn't love to have a mobile platform where they could use their skills to develop applications on.