Microsoft takes on Flash with Silverlight

 

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Posted on 16 Apr 2007 at 09:16

Microsoft has announced the release of Silverlight, its new cross-browser, cross-platform plug-in for interactive media and applications on the Internet.

Previously called Windows Presentation Foundation Everywhere (WPF/E), Silverlight is effectively Microsoft's attempt to tackle the hegemony of Adobe's Flash player, which is installed on more than 90 per cent of the worlds' computers and used by a number of the Net's most popular sites, notably MySpace and YouTube.

Silverlight uses Windows Media Video (WMV), Microsoft's implementation of the Society of Motion Picture and Television Engineers (SMPTE) VC-1 video standard, to provide immediate compatibility with the millions of hours of content already available on the Web, and adds support for interactive video for a multitude of environments, scaling from mobile devices to full-screen HD.

It also provides content providers with optional integrated DRM, based on Microsoft's recently announced PlayReady technology. Both the core Silverlight technology and this DRM add-on are fully-featured on both Windows and Mac platforms and compatible with Internet Explorer, Firefox and Safari.

Silverlight content developers can leverage the range of Microsoft's Windows Media-enabled technologies, notably the .Net Framework and Visual Studio. Silverlight support will also be built into into the company's Expression Media design software. The Expression Media Encoder will enable rapid import, compression and web publishing of digital video imported from a variety of popular formats, including AVI and QuickTime. Capable of running on the desktop or Windows Server, Expression Media Encoder is a template-driven system that is designed to integrate seamlessly with existing web publishing workflows for both live and on-demand content delivery. Expression Media Encoder will be a free download for customers of Expression Media later this year.

Windows Server Longhorn will also support Silverlight, providing up to twice the scalability on the same hardware when compared with Windows Server 2003. Microsoft has also announced Internet Information Services 7 (IIS7) Media Pack, with features that includes bit-rate throttling and other advanced features designed to help further reduce the cost of media distribution. The IIS7 Media Pack will be a free download for customers of Windows Server Longhorn when it ships.

'Content providers are seeking a way to deliver rich interactive applications using the tools and skills they already have,' said Bob Muglia, senior vice president of the Server and Tools Business at Microsoft. 'They want an end-to-end solution that enables them to rapidly reach multiple platforms with reasonable deployment costs. Microsoft Silverlight delivers on this need and marks a real step forward for the industry. Silverlight is the only solution in the market today that enables content creators to tap into the broad ecosystem for Windows Media technologies while taking the Web's rich interactive application experience to new levels.'

A number of companies have announced support for Silverlight, including Akamai, Brightcove, Eyeblaster, Limelight Networks, Major League Baseball, NaviSite, Netflix, Pinnacle, Rhozet, Skinkers, Sonic Solutions, Tarari, Telestream and Winnov.

Netflix already uses Windows Media to stream movies over the Internet and believes Silverlight will enable it to improve the service

'Netflix is leading the way for people to rent movies for instant viewing over the Internet,' said Netflix chief product officer Neil Hunt. 'With 6.3 million members now and millions more in the next few years, Netflix needs rapid and reliable scalability so all members can enjoy DVD-quality movies immediately on our instant-viewing feature. We depend on Microsoft Windows Media technologies, and we're excited about Microsoft Silverlight as a platform to enable instant watching of great content for all our members, on multiple platforms.'