Microsoft's answer to Adobe Flash and Flex and several other RIA (rich Internet application) and AJAX frameworks, Silverlight arrived with a flourish just over one year ago. Silverlight 1.0 (see my October 2007 review) manipulated its multimedia-savvy, WPF (Windows Presentation Foundation) user interface using JavaScript. Silverlight 1.1, which added support for compiled .Net languages and supported more of the .Net API, was available at that time only as an alpha test.
Silverlight 1.1 turned out to be such an important upgrade for Microsoft that it was eventually renumbered Silverlight 2. As delivered now, Silverlight 2 supports all .Net languages, including the dynamic languages such as IronPython and IronRuby, and it contains a good chunk of the .Net base classes, including newer features such as LINQ (language-integrated query). In addition to a rich set of controls with more on the way, it has APIs for an alphabet soup of networking, including REST, SOAP, RSS, and HTTP; includes local data caching and storage; and supports HD video among other rich media formats. H.264 video and AAC (Advanced Audio Coding) audio support is planned for Silverlight 3.
[ View a slideshow tour of the Silverlight 2 development environment. Read the Test Center reviews of Visual Studio 2008 SP1, Adobe AIR, Adobe Flex Builder, Curl, and open source AJAX toolkits. ]
Poster-child Silverlight deployments such as the Beijing Olympics last August have been favorably reviewed and generally well received. There was of course the usual chorus from people with incompatible hardware and operating systems, but nothing unexpected. From Microsoft's viewpoint, at least, the Silverlight Internet video streaming of the Olympics provided by NBC in the U.S. China Central Television in China, and broadcasters in 10 other major national markets, was a huge success. More recently, Silverlight 2 enabled Blockbuster to offer high-quality streaming video to PC and Mac users of its MovieLink service.
Capabilities and controls
Silverlight 2 should eventually be good for any kind of RIA, given its strong language support and class library and good runtime performance, not just video streaming. Right now, it probably lacks a few user interface controls out of the box for some applications: There are only 28 items in the standard Silverlight Controls toolbox, and another 12 in the Silverlight Toolkit, with a plan for 100 controls total to be made available over the next months. It's not that hard to build new Silverlight controls, and many are already available from ISVs, but if you're not in a hurry, you may find that Microsoft eventually delivers all the controls you need.
| Test Center Scorecard | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 |  |  |  |  |  | |
| 30% | 30% | 15% | 15% | 10% | ||
| Microsoft Silverlight 2 | 9 | 9 | 9 | 10 | 10 |
9.3
Excellent
|
Get the independent advice and expertise you need to support a virtual workforce.
The increase in Linux popularity has increased the frequency and sophistication of malware attacks. Read this 2 page white paper now to learn how you can protect your Linux environment with real-time protection that is certified by all major Linux vendors.
Download now »
Ensuring acceptable application delivery will become even more difficult over the next few years. As a result, IT organizations need to ensure that the approach that they take to resolving the current application delivery challenges can scale to support the emerging challenges. This handbook elaborates on the key tasks associated with planning, optimization, management and control and provides decision criteria to help IT organizations choose appropriate solutions.
Download now »
A common misconception is that mid-range storage requirements are dramatically different than that of a larger enterprise. Mid-range storage users may require less capacity, but they have similar functionality and management requirements. This ESG paper examines mid-range storage needs and reviews a new solution that adjusts size while retaining value, performance and functionality.
Download now »
Sign up to receive InfoWorld Resource Alerts
36 Recommendations
