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As Google Backs Away From A Plug-in, Microsoft Rushes Towards One - washingtonpost.com
I posted two lengthy comments here. Can't see the forest for all the trees is the idiom that comes to mind.
excerpt: With Silverlight, Microsoft continues to make it clear that they intend to use this web application framework, which they developed, to power much of what they are doing on the web going forward. Again, the problem here is that not only does Microsoft control this, but it requires a plug-in to use. Sure, they've made the plug-in available to most browsers, including the ones by rivals Google and Apple, but it's still a plug-in. It's something that's going to stop everyone from seeing the same web no matter which browser they use.
This has of course long been an issue with Microsoft. Despite a clear shift within the rest of the industry toward web standards, Microsoft long played difficult with its Internet Explorer browser. They could afford to, and maybe you could even argue that it was in their interest to, because they were so dominant. It was only when a standards-based browser, Mozilla's Firefox, started biting off significant chunks of IE's market share that Microsoft shifted their position to play more nicely with standards.
Shine on Silverlight and Windows with XAML • The Register : Tim Anderson
Excellent explanation and review from the Tim Anderson. I wonder how i missed this? Here is the summary statement:
"..... You can also extend XAML with custom objects. The main requirement is that classes used in XAML must have a parameterless constructor. The procedure is straightforward. Define a class; make sure your application has a reference to the assembly containing the class; then add a namespace declaration for the assembly. You can then define elements in XAML that map to your class, and at runtime these will become object instances. XAML has a curious story when it comes to formatted text, especially in Silverlight. In one sense it is rather limited. XAML has no understanding of common formats such as HTML, CSS or RTF, let alone the fancy new OOXML. Silverlight developers have to interact with the browser DOM in order to display HTML."
"... No escaping it: Silverlight .XAP bundle preserves the original XAML. That said, <b>XAML with WPF actually is a document format</b>. The full WPF has an element called FlowDocument and rich formatting capabilities. Silverlight lacks FlowDocument, but does have a TextBlock with basic formatting options via the inline <Run> object. It also supports the Glyph element. This is interesting because it is the core element in XPS, Microsoft's invented-here alternative to Adobe's PDF."
".... XPS uses a subset of XAML to describe fixed layouts. In consequence, and with some compromises, you can use Silverlight to display XPS."
"..... The bottom line is that XAML is a way of programming .NET declaratively. Its more intricate features improve the mapping between XAML and .NET. The result is we have design tools like Microsoft's Expression Blend and a clean separation between UI objects and program code, which is a considerable achievement."
".... As ever there's a downside, and with Microsoft it's the classic: this is thoroughly proprietary, and the schema issues make it difficult to validate with standard XML tools."
No mention of how the OpenXML <> XAML round-trip co
EU Might Force OEMs to Offer Choice of Browsers During Setup > Comments
Maybe the EU can right the marketplace and restore competition by identifying all proprietary formats, protocols and interfaces used by Microsoft in an anti-competitive way; then issue a directive to either replace these locks with open standard alternatives, or pay a monthly anti-competitive reimbursement penalty until such time as the end user effectively replaces these systems.
This approach is similar to the "WiNE solution" put forward to Judge Jackson as part of the USA anti-trust remedy. Judge Jackson favored a break up of Microsoft into two divisions; Operating systems and other businesses. Few believed this was enforceable, with many citing the infamous "Chinese Wall" claims made by Chairman Bill
What the EU might force Microsoft to do : comment by gary.edwards
I've pretty much stayed out of the EU action against Microsoft primarily because it misses the mark by so much. The browser is not the means by which Microsoft seeks to create a Web based monopoly. MSIE is a useful tool used to frustrate Web developers and systems providers, but we are way beyond the point where removing/replacing MSIE becomes an effective remedy to Microsoft monopolist abuses. Way beyond!
There is however no doubt in my mind that the browser is going to be the portable WebOS of the future. The problem is that browser runtimes are also host for proprietary runtime plug-ins. Like MS Silverlight! Read on freind. My comments are three part, and posted down the line, somewhere around 183. Heavy on the WebKit stuff as usual! Look for "gary.edwards".
IE aims to embrace the web again | Technology | The Guardian
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I asked Hachamovitch, who has led the Explorer team since 2003, why it has taken Microsoft so long to address these deficiencies. "It comes down to what we were doing with our time," he said. "Between 2001 and 2003 we were building what you experience now as Windows Presentation Foundation and Silverlight."
These technologies display not HTML, the language of web pages, but XAML, Microsoft's proprietary code for creating rich visual content.
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It sounds good, but Hachamovitch's warmth begins to fade when I broach the vexed subject of browser scripting. The context is important. Hachamovitch had already stated that Microsoft spent three years neglecting IE for the sake of a more proprietary technology, which is now appearing on the web as a browser plug-in called Silverlight. This is similar in some ways to Adobe's Flash, and supports rich multimedia effects within web pages, as well as the ability to run applications written in Microsoft's .NET Framework.
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Running Beyond the Browser | Move Over AJAX, ARAX is Here - Darryl Taft of eWeek
Darryl Taft posts an interesting question concerning running Ruby in a browser, and Microsoft's Silverlight proposal to do that with ARAX. I think he misses the larger context of the rise of RIA, and the wane of AJAX.
In particular, he misses the significance of two important RIA aspects: The Adobe RIA runs on the WebKit layout engine and document model. Microsoft RIA (Silverlight) runs on XAML "fixed/flow".
XAML "fixed/flow" is in effect, the web ready representation of MSOffice-OOXML. And Silverlight the Windows Presentation Foundation layer gone portable.
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Because the Adobe AIR run-time is based on WebKit layout, WebKit documents can hit on all cylinders across any browser able to implement the AIR plug-in. Meaning, web developers and web content providers need only target the WebKit document model to attain the interactive access ubiquity all seek. Very cool. Let me also add that the WebKit HTML-CSS-DOM-Javascript model is capable of "fixed/flow" representation. I'll explain the importance of "fixed/flow" un momento, but think about how iPhone renders a web page and you'll understand the "flow" side of this equation.
Ten things to know about Microsoft’s Live Mesh | Mary Jo | ZDNet.com
Microsoft introduces Live-Mesh, and Mary Jo runs through the ten things that caught her attention.
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Software + Services platform for synchronization and collaboration
ECIS Accuses Microsoft of Plotting HTML Hijack | BetaNews Jan 2007
Look at the date on this! A full year has passed and we now can clearly see the importance to Microsoft of ISO approval for MSOffice-OOXML. The MSOffice SDK provides an easy to implement OOXML <> XAML conversion component, pavign the way for billions of complex, business process rich MSOffice documents to be used by IE-8 and the emerging MS Web-Stack. XAML is proprietary and exclusive to the Microsoft Web.
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Vista is not the threat! The threat is that of the MS Web-Stack, at the core of which is the Exchange/SharePoint juggernaut tha tis rapidly replacing Lotus Notes and Apache as the premier server system for eMail, messaging, portal CMS, calendar-scheduling, project management, and collaborative computing.
The MS Web-Stack is able to speak HTML5-CSS2.1 as well as the proprietary XAML-Silverlight-Smart Tags set of WPF technologies designed as alternatives to advancing W3C XHTML, CSS, SVG, XForms, and RDF.
- garyedwards on 2008-04-18 - Great summary quote! At least someone gets it. - garyedwards on 2008-04-18
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An industry coalition that has represented competitors of Microsoft in European markets before the European Commission stepped up its public relations offensive this morning, this time accusing Microsoft of scheming to upset HTML's place in the fabric of the Internet with XAML, an XML-based layout lexicon for network applications.
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Add Sticky Note
What difference does that make? XML is a language for developing domain specific XML languages. Sometimes these domain specific dialects are shared, sometimes they are not. There are ZERO interoperability requirements with XML!!!! XAML is 100% proprietary XML language written exclusively for the MSOffice-OOXML <> MS Web-Stack <> IE-8 use. That it's XML has nothing to do with the interop expected of Opne Web formats.
XAML is proprietary.
- on 2008-04-18
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