In the fight for supremacy in RIA, HTML5 may eventually be the victor, perhaps even doing away with proprietary technologies such as Microsoft Silverlight and Adobe Flash. However, HTML5 is still a long way from finalization, even though bits and pieces are being implemented in today's browsers. In the meantime, companies that want to provide a truly rich Web experience will continue to choose between the market leaders.
Right now, we favor Silverlight. In the two categories most important to decision makers -- developer tools and design integration -- Silverlight trumps Flash/AIR/Flex. The toolset in Microsoft Visual Studio 2010 is demonstrably excellent, and Microsoft Expression Blend bridges the design-development gap much better than Adobe Flash Catalyst. For these reasons, companies like Netflix have chosen Silverlight as their RIA technology. We completely agree.
