websense

Here we go again, Microsoft has decided to take on Flash. They’re launching Microsoft Silverlight, which is supposedly going to rival and replace flash. You’d think their lack of success in the browser wars would have taught them a lesson.

A few things to consider before you head out and ask your web developer to switch to Silverlight for your Interactive/RIA projects:

• Market Penetration: My prediction is a minimum of 3 years after official launch of the project before they hit 70%, despite their line about pushing it out via automatic updates etc. Do you want to spend a lot of money to develop really cool stuff that no-one will see?
• Designer/Developer Support: Like it or not, most designers don’t like Microsoft. Yes, there are lots of developers that do, but they aren’t the guys with the artistic abilities you need to develop good interactive. Until the design community buys into this, if they ever do, it won’t have significant reach.
• Experience:Flash has been around for years now, and is just now fining it’s place on the web. Until now, little to no quality content has been developed in Flash. Designers were too busy discovering all the cool things they could do with it, rather than focusing on what the user wants. Silverlight will have to go through similar pains, if it’s really going to offer anything different than Flash.

So, before you jump on the Silverlight bandwagon, think about your market. Do they want to be forced on to the bandwagon to get your content? Or will they just go elsewhere all together?