Silverlight vs web 2.0

Question

I understand that Silverlight has come a long way since its inception, but I have always tried my best to find a business need for Silverlight. What are the advantages and disadvantages of Silverlight 4.0 against modern html5 and javascript libraries like jQuery or ExtJS?

Should I use silverlight or a combination of html5 and javascript for my ui?

Answer 1

This issue will be discussed by the Nazis. But this is the right question if it is formulated a little reasoned.

A plugin without a website is of little importance. Almost everyone has a flash installed, and I suspect that one day this will be true for Silverlight. If the user has an advantage, they will not mind installing the 5 MB plugin.

So what does Silverlight offer that HTML 5 and javascript do not? A development model that does not suck. Seriously . This gives you a stripped down version of the Windows desktop model. Creating software is faster, easier, and cheaper for Silverlight than using open web technology. The software downloads faster , runs faster, looks like a slice , and you can do what you can’t do with a browser only. It's so nice that it only targets one platform instead of hodgepodge, which is the browsers that make up the Internet (although in recent years it has become much less painful, it's still a mess.) Since the developer has done a lot in both Silverlight and HTML / css / jQuery, I would say that it’s better to see the dominant Silverlight network than the “open network” any day. No, I do not trust Microsoft, but I do not trust weakly closed standards committees. Silverlight sees a new release every 6-10 months. HTML 5 is still steam. This is my opinion, based on personal experience and some anecdotal comparisons of the costs of developing desktop and web applications.

Answer 2

I think Silverlight shines (sic) in streaming. If you go to www.dnrtv.com you will see how they use Silverlight to stream content, which in my opinion is an excellent use of technology.

How to use it in my web applications as a user interface? No, I don’t think this is any specific use.

I think he has an application in which you want to sink or not use flash. :)

but this is just my opinion.

Answer 3

I saw several presentations about Silverlight, but about this, I have never done much with it. The only question that comes to mind when I try to answer your question is what advantages does it have over Flash? If the benefits are few or nothing significant, then I think you can also ask why the flash is rare in business applications, and it will probably be the same for Silverlight. Although I suspect that building Silverlight applications is probably easier to do than Flash, it’s just an assumption ... (seems to be more developer-oriented than design-oriented)

Anyway, I think with any questions, "What tools should I use?" you need to keep an open mind, but also try to choose the right tools for the right job, balanced with those that you are most comfortable with. I really enjoy working with ExtJS, and I hope to continue working with it, as the more it becomes more productive, the better.

Answer 4

Take a look at ext, qooxdoo, smartclient, sproutcore, and several other similar frameworks. IMO, this framework, combined with what HTML5 brings to the table, will drown Silverlight. For a good reason: MS will never port Silverlight to Android, while decent Android browsers are great for supporting LOB applications written using only standard Javascript and HTML.

IMO, this is not a Silverlight nature plugin in itself, which makes it bad. These are two things, none of which are related to the nature of the Silverlight plugin. Firstly, it is a proprietary technology that MS will not be able to support properly on all platforms where it may be needed, now that platforms that are not desktops are popping up everywhere. Secondly, why bother with Silverlight if you have everything it can offer without using it?

Answer 5

One of the scenarios Microsoft aimed at Silverlight was applications like LOB (Line Of Business). This is seriously affecting this area - it is delivered via the Internet, and its performance is the same in every supported browser, I don’t need to encode different versions for different browsers.

HTML5 is still an undisclosed and evolving standard, and each browser has different bits in different browsers. I have nothing against HTML5, but as soon as it becomes final (if it ever appears), you will get more of the same as what has already happened - different browser developers implement it a little differently, therefore, there will be differences between browsers that you, as a developer, will have to make a discount.

With the release of Silverlight 4, MS has made great strides, and it tosses up the ass even more, providing access to webcams, printers, ending with a browser, accessing the file system if it is trusted, etc. This makes it even more desktop-like, for example, you will never achieve this with HTML 5 and jQuery, they remain strictly a browser / web technology.

Silverlight is haunted and has a large (and growing) takeover. What you should be thinking about is that Silverlight is starting to become a fairly mature technology, while HTML5 has not even been born.