Microsoft Shoots Back at Adobe Over Silverlight
By Ed Oswald | Wednesday, February 11, 2009 at 1:14 pm
Adobe CFO Mark Garrett seems to think that Silverlight is “fizzling,” but Microsoft begs to differ. The exec’s comments came as part of a broader talk on Adobe’s business at the homas Weisel Partners Technology & Telecom Conference being held this week in San Francisco.
Garrett’s contention is that while Silverlight may have launched strong, demand has fizzled out and Adobe has moved ahead in terms of innovation, with Microsoft struggling to catch up. He also suggested that the company may not have the “mindset” to be aggressive with pushing the technology forward, BetaNews reports.
Microsoft seems to beg to differer however. In a response to Garrett’s comments, the company told us that one in four computer users have access to Silverlight, with 100 million downloads of the newest version of the platform since October of last year.
There have also been some important wins for Microsoft as of late:
- CBS extensively uses the platform to serve its content across its network of sites;
- The Presidential Inauguration Committee chose Silverlight to webcast the swearing in of President Obama in January;
- Netflix’s online streaming service is powered by Silverlight, allowing it to stream to both PC and Mac platforms.
Not too shabby for a platform that is apparently fizzling if Adobe is to be believed. Of course, Flash adoption is by far much more widespread, but let’s take into account the fact that the technology has been available for many more years than Silverlight has.
On a related side note, Moonlight 1.0 was officially released today, which is a open-source project to bring Silverlight to the Linux platform. The platform got its first big test during the inauguaration, when a preview version was released to allow Linux users to view the webcast.
According to Microsoft, the applicaition was downloaded some 20,000 times.
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May 5th, 2009 at 1:31 pm[…] Microsoft Shoots Back at Adobe Over Silverlight (technologizer.com) […]
February 11th, 2009 at 7:26 pm
As for microsofts rebuttle, what does it mean when they say one out four people has access to the technology? Maybe it means someone I know has it. As for the DNC and the inaguration wasn’t Ballmer one of the top contributors. He gave them money they use their technology.
February 11th, 2009 at 8:51 pm
I don’t buy that…. Adobe execs are probably just as major contributors as Microsoft execs are.
February 12th, 2009 at 8:09 am
Any win for Microsoft is a loss for the common man. It’s pains me Obama’s administration supported Silverlight and Microsoft.
Most Flash based sites are a pain to me. Most seem to load slow, and I’m on a fast connection. I can’t imagine Silverlight being any better. In fact since it’s a Microsoft product it’s probably worse.
February 12th, 2009 at 10:14 am
I hope Silverlight doesn’t fizzle out. I think some healthy competition is always good. Also having developed with both Silverlight and Flex (a tool for developing flash applications) I feel pretty confident when I say that Silverlight is the superior technology.
February 12th, 2009 at 4:39 pm
Jeff, so you’re satisfied with the bulky hunk of bloatware that Adobe can foist upon us, unencumbered by competition – as long as it means Microsoft isn’t “winning”?
Please.
February 13th, 2009 at 12:13 pm
Flash is a horrible, compromisable, CPU-sucking technology, and I wish it would disappear from the web. But only a fool would replace with anything out of Redmond. Silverlight is surely garbage like every single one MSFT products I’ve tried over the past 15 years. If it has some merit, I apologize to the Silverlight team, but ONLY if it is fully cross-platform for both using AND authoring, and the API’s have been submitted to standards bodies.