6 ms·

Silverlight dead? Funny, desktop / laptop machines still require it for Netflix -- not a small audience. OS/2? Learn your history, MSFT helped create it, but

Silverlight dead? Funny, desktop / laptop machines still require it for Netflix -- not a small audience. OS/2? Learn your history, MSFT helped create it, but it was an IBM product. XBox Live? Last I checked it was still around. I'm not a particularly MSFT oriented person (apple household) but having been around long enough, you might want to expand your horizons around MSFT product life cycles. And, I very much disagree with your comment of "It will always suck to be a developer using MSFT technologies" ... Assorted MSFT technologies have made developers a lot of money over the years and I don't see that changing much in the next few years. Yes, they lag at mobile, but they are pretty damn big still.

yuhong 14y ago
>OS/2? Learn your history, MSFT helped create it, but it was an IBM product. Actually, MS did once bet on OS/2. It is unfortunate that what was originally the MS OS/2 2.0 SDK turned into an entire fiasco. I really should write a blog series about it. In the meantime, look up "MS OS/2 2.0 SDK" and "Microsoft Munchkins OS/2".
- jmspring 14y ago
  They bet on it for a short while, but I was referencing the fact that they hopped ship and OS/2 continued under IBM for years. OS/2 Warp, continuing to run in ATM machines, the community wanting to continue OS/2, etc. It did eventually die, but it maintained a life well after MSFT decided to move on. I still miss Galactic Civilizations. One of the better space strategy games.
  - scrumper 14y ago
    An aside: GC2 is a fine successor. DRM-free, too. http://www.galciv2.com/ http://www.galciv2.com/
    - eru 14y ago
      I tried that. But the original Master of Orion still beats it.
  - yuhong 14y ago
    > OS/2 continued under IBM for years. And meanwhile MS was attacking OS/2 using unethical tactics like "Microsoft Munchkins" that ended up being worse than working with IBM (under the JDA) in the first place.
  - richardw 14y ago
    I might write that as "IBM continued to try to fulfil promises to their customers for years despite their major partner jumping ship".
k3n 14y ago
Silverlight -- how many other sites than Netflix do you know that use it? That is the only non-MS site that I've ever seen it used on. Anyways, there's been lots of talk of SL dying[1]. 1. http://stackoverflow.com/a/8929362/84473 http://stackoverflow.com/a/8929362/84473
- mkr-hn 14y ago
  http://www.microsoft.com/silverlight/case-studies/ http://www.microsoft.com/silverlight/case-studies/ Requires Silverlight
  - k3n 14y ago
    Yeah I don't believe I use any of those. I'm confused about your statement, though -- are you saying that that specific MS page requires SL, or that the sites listed require SL? If it's the former, well, that's expected as it is a MS site, and I qualified my prior statement with regards to such. If it's the latter, I think it may be a stretch to say that SL is "required"; more than likely, it's used for a specific widget on each of those sites, which probably isn't integral to that site's core functionality. For instance, I see NBC listed on there, but that seems to only be for the Olympics. I watch The Office on nbc.com, but I can see in the source that it's definitely a Flash player.
    - mkr-hn 14y ago
      That's a lot of text to throw at two simple words
      - deleted 14y ago
        [deleted]

yuhong 14y ago

>OS/2? Learn your history, MSFT helped create it, but it was an IBM product. Actually, MS did once bet on OS/2. It is unfortunate that what was originally the MS OS/2 2.0 SDK turned into an entire fiasco. I really should write a blog series about it. In the meantime, look up "MS OS/2 2.0 SDK" and "Microsoft Munchkins OS/2".

jmspring 14y ago
They bet on it for a short while, but I was referencing the fact that they hopped ship and OS/2 continued under IBM for years. OS/2 Warp, continuing to run in ATM machines, the community wanting to continue OS/2, etc. It did eventually die, but it maintained a life well after MSFT decided to move on. I still miss Galactic Civilizations. One of the better space strategy games.
- scrumper 14y ago
  An aside: GC2 is a fine successor. DRM-free, too. http://www.galciv2.com/ http://www.galciv2.com/
  - eru 14y ago
    I tried that. But the original Master of Orion still beats it.
- yuhong 14y ago
  > OS/2 continued under IBM for years. And meanwhile MS was attacking OS/2 using unethical tactics like "Microsoft Munchkins" that ended up being worse than working with IBM (under the JDA) in the first place.
- richardw 14y ago
  I might write that as "IBM continued to try to fulfil promises to their customers for years despite their major partner jumping ship".

k3n 14y ago

Silverlight -- how many other sites than Netflix do you know that use it? That is the only non-MS site that I've ever seen it used on. Anyways, there's been lots of talk of SL dying[1]. 1. http://stackoverflow.com/a/8929362/84473 http://stackoverflow.com/a/8929362/84473

mkr-hn 14y ago
http://www.microsoft.com/silverlight/case-studies/ http://www.microsoft.com/silverlight/case-studies/ Requires Silverlight
- k3n 14y ago
  Yeah I don't believe I use any of those. I'm confused about your statement, though -- are you saying that that specific MS page requires SL, or that the sites listed require SL? If it's the former, well, that's expected as it is a MS site, and I qualified my prior statement with regards to such. If it's the latter, I think it may be a stretch to say that SL is "required"; more than likely, it's used for a specific widget on each of those sites, which probably isn't integral to that site's core functionality. For instance, I see NBC listed on there, but that seems to only be for the Olympics. I watch The Office on nbc.com, but I can see in the source that it's definitely a Flash player.
  - mkr-hn 14y ago
    That's a lot of text to throw at two simple words
    - deleted 14y ago
      [deleted]