Gary Edwards's Library tagged silverlight →  View Popular

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.

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ge silverlight wpf Open-Web-Productivity

Is Adobe AiR a Virtual Desktop?  We expect a VD to run an alien OS and those OS specific applications.  With AiR 2.0 it seems Adobe has ditched the "OS" component of a VD, and the OS specific applications, but is quite capable of running AiR based applications and information services that would otherwise have been designed for a specific OS environment.  

Another way of looking at this would be to say that VD's are designed to run existing OS and OS specific applications, while AiR is desinged to run newly written OS independent applications that have one very important advantage over legacy applications and information systems;  AiR speaks the language of the Web 3.0.  

This is WebKit HTML5-CSS3 with an advanced but Air specific version of JavaScript called "ActionScript".  What Adobe doesn't do is provide support for other critically important aspects of the WebKit interactive Web 3.0 model: support for Canvas/SVG!  Adobe continues to push the proprietary SWF interactive vector graphics format.  

Note that Microsoft's Silverlight universal runtime does not support anything in the WebKit Web 3.0 model!  It's all proprietary.

excerpt: For the first time since 2007, Adobe has updated its Air platform, released recently in beta with a slew of new features. The features include support for detection of mass storage devices, advanced networking capabilities, ability to open a file with its default application, improved cross-platform printing, and a bunch of other things that you probably won’t really notice in any other way other than your Adobe working significantly more efficiently and smoothly than before.

The 2.0 version of Air also will be able to support HTML5 and CSS3, due to an upgrade of its WebKit. Developers will also be happy to know that they can create Air applications that can be installed through a native installer.

Air’s changes have seen it morph into something of an ‘operating system sitting on an operating system’. According to one review:  “The ‘write once run anywhere’ ideal is becoming

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Adobe-Air WebKit Silverlight AJAX

Interesting discussion about SVG, and the push Google is making with their SVG Conference.

excerpt:  Vector graphics describe imagery mathematically with lines, curves, shapes, and color values rather than the grid of colored pixels used by bitmapped file formats such as JPEG or GIF widely used on the Web today. Where appropriate, such as with corporate logos but not photographs, vector graphics bring smaller file sizes and better resizing flexibility. That's good for faster downloads and use on varying screen sizes.

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SVG Google Flash Air Silverlight

For most of this decade, web developers have been suffering the shortcomings of Internet Explorer. Like 1998 limited HTML-CSS support.  And nothing for the language of the Web - HTML+ :: HTML5, CSS3, SVG/Canvas and advanced JavaScript.  That hasn't bothered Microsoft (NSDQ: MSFT) too much, because the company has historically focused on developing "real" applications that run only on Windows and don't use the browser as a platform. With the new Office web apps, many thought that Microsoft might actually have to experience the living nightmare that web app development can be. Yet the company has figured out a way to make things easier: cheat.  

MIcrosof thas figured out how to provide MSOffice as Web Apps, without having to use the language of the Web: HTML+.  Instead, they use protpietary formats, protocols and interfaces to create an interesting dichotomy - a rich MS-Web, and a poor, 1998 Open-Web.

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web-apps microsoft msoffice silverlight Openweb

How Does Word Web App Get Better With Silverlight?

Faster load performance, since typically fewer bytes need to be downloaded before showing the document.
Improved text fidelity at 100% zoom. This includes better text spacing and rendering.
Greatly improved text fidelity at other zoom levels not 100%.
Text will respect settings set in cleartype tuner, so you’re able to determine how much (if any) cleartype you’d like to see. The cleartype tuner is available on the web for older versions of Windows, and is included in Windows 7.
Improved accuracy of hit highlighting in Find.

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msoffice silverlight

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

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xaml wpf silverlight tim-anderson

From AppScout: ... "For the third year in a row, leading minds from the major browsers got together at SXSW Interactive to spar with one another over issues like Web standards and openness. As in years past, Mozilla's Brendan Eich, Microsoft's Chris Wilson, Opera's Charles McCathieNevile, and moderator Arun Ranganathan (also from Mozilla) were present, and this year they were joined by Google's Darin Fisher.<br><br>

As always, Apple was absent from the panel. Wilson told me that Apple is active in the standards discussion, but the company's famously closed corporate policy prevents Apple reps from participating in panels like this (almost every laptop I saw in the room was a Mac, so apparently the policy hasn't hurt them much). In any case, Safari's WebKit was represented by Chrome (Fisher), which is also built on WebKit....."<br><br>

AppScout does a great job of collecting some of the best snippets to come out of this panel discussion. Really though, how can anyone have a browser discussion without edge of the Web <i>WebKit</i> device browsers? And then there's this: the discussions today isn't about "browsers". It's about RiA platforms and how browsers are used to launch rich internet applications. Microsoft has XAML-Silverlight. Adobe has AiR-WebKit-SWF. And the Open Web has WebKit-HTML+. That's the battle!

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webkit ria silverlight adobe swsw browsers

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

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eu browsers webkit silverlight xaml wpf microsoft

Short and too the point. Silverlight is limited to JavaScript - ES3. They will not support the Adobe-Mozilla-Opera-WebKit push for ES4!!! Silverlight will run any and all compiled .NET code in the browser. The DLR runs on top of the desktop CLR (no browser) as well as the Silverlight CLR.

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silverlight clr dlr microsoft

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".

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webkit ria xaml silverlight wpf eu anti-trust

Awesome commentary in the must read category. JC nails it; starting with "layout"! ....... "We were both part of the same team and he was creating some UI elements that I was to wire up. As I sat there (in awe) watching him work I realized that much of his considerable skill was rooted in fundamentals not unlike the art of programming. Of course, there are design skills that are intuitive that can't be "learned." But, that can also be said of the logical clarity found in a really elegant data model or a brilliant inheritance tree. I am certainly no designer, but I have observed the more creative among us for several years and have gained some insight into their world. In this article I'll share some basic principles that can help raise your design acumen and improve the experience of your users...... "

Layout
I'd like to attack my goal of imparting design wisdom by breaking the topic into four buckets. The first is layout.

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ajax open-web ria silverlight layout air webkit

Just because the web has been open so far doesn't mean that it will stay that way. Flash and Silverlight, arguably the two market-leading technology toolkits for rich media applications are not open. Make no mistake - Microsoft and Adobe aim to have their proprietary plug-ins, aka pseudo-browsers, become the rendering engines for the next generation of the Web.

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open-web flash silverlight ajax html-css ria

Excellent overview of where applications are going. Richard Monson-Haefel, (whom i met at the 2008 Web 2.0 Conference) explains the convergence of four emerging application models: Web Clients (Browsers), RiA Clients, Client/Server, and Widget Engines. He comes up with a convergence point called "Fit Client", offering Adobe Air as the leading example. Richard walks through each application model, discussing limitations and advantages. Good stuff, especially this comment:

"The widget engine is really a wonderful architecture that gives you the power of the desktop (via the widget engine) and the management of the Web (via widget downloads).  Widget engines can out-perform RIA solutions and they can store larger data sets. 
 
The limitation of Widget engines is not in their architecture, it is that they have been designed for applications with fairly weak capabilities compared to client/server. Widgets tend to be single-purpose applications with limited access to the native operating system. That said, the widget architecture itself - the separation of the platform from the applications - is important. It makes it possible to create applications (widgets) that are portable across operating systems and are packaged for easy download and installation. "

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ria webkit air silverlight widgets

In the future application developers won't care what desktop operating system you use, they will only care which Fit Client platform is the most pervasive. This is what Adobe AIR, Microsoft Silverlight, Google Gears and Curl are fighting for. Nothing short of the future of desktop and RIA development.

Microsoft brings with it a huge ecosystem of .NET developers - potentially millions of developers already skilled in WPF, XAML and C#. That's a pretty scary for others in the Fit Client arena.

Right now the future of the desktop is completely open. Anyone with enough clout could win the desktop - effectively usurping Microsoft Windows dominate position.

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ria silverlight air chrome webkit jwt

Last week, Microsoft reported that revenue from the Microsoft business division (MBD) grew 20% year over year to US$4.95 billion in the most recent quarter.

That is more than Microsoft's client division, which makes Windows. Most of MBD's revenue comes from Office, though Microsoft doesn't break out an exact percentage. Windows has 1 billion users. Office has only 500 million.

Consumers will be able to subscribe to Office Web and even get it at a discount price, provided they are willing to view Web ads.

Business customers seeking "more manageability and control" will be able to buy subscriptions to Office Web similar to the subscription Microsoft offers for a bundle combining Web-based versions of Exchange and SharePoint. That costs $3 per user per month.

Enterprises may also get Office Web through conventional volume licensing software contracts, which will allow them to either install Office on desktop and other client PCs, or have Microsoft host it on their server.

Unlike non-Microsoft products (Google Docs - ZOHO - BuzzWord), Office Web will guarantee that the "viewing experience is fantastic" and that formatting and meta data from Office documents don't "get munged up,". Office Web will provide a superior "end-to-end solution" by letting users view and edit documents whenever they want to, including browsers such as Firefox, Internet Explorer and Safari and Windows Mobile smart phones. The Office Web focus will be on business productivity according to Chris Capossela. The Office Web experience can be enhanced by Silverlight (Microsoft RiA).

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microsoft office-web silverlight ria OOXML-XAML

"Just as we have an operating system for the PC, for the phone, and for the server, we need a new operating system that runs in the Internet,".... "Windows Cloud will be a place where you can run arbitrary applications up in the Internet that runs .NET." ..... "a shift in Microsoft's overall developer tools, means putting .Net in the browser, which we've done with our Silverlight technology," Ballmer said.... "PC applications have better user interface, and you can integrate them more. Browser applications run on non-Windows machines, and they're easier to manage. We need to bring the benefits of both of those things together on Windows, and through our Silverlight technology permit the targeting of other systems."

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webkit silverlight Cloud-Computing xaml .net microsoft

"...some browsers and plug-ins were adopting storage-related API’s that are a part of the new HTML5 draft specification. While Gears, Opera and Webkit have implemented structured storage API’s, the remainder of the HTML5 spec currently remains mostly unimplemented and also in a state of flux. HTML5 is a super-sized effort to bring all the browsers under a single, standard markup language and set of API’s - but with Microsoft, Adobe and others racing ahead with their own next-gen web technologies, will we ever see a real HTML5 standard?"

This article was posted in August of 2008, before the surprise release of the WebKit based "Google Chrome" .... the WebKit RiA alternative to Adobe AiR and Microsoft Silverlight

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webkit html5 css3 javascript silverlight air ria

Project Description
A Word 2007 Add-in that converts the Office Open XML (WordprocessingML) to XAML:
For WPF, the document is converted into a FlowDocument element.
For Silverlight 2 the document is converted into a StackPanel element containing TextBlock elements.

www.codeplex.com/Word2007ToXaml - Preview

xaml silverlight ooxml

Matt Assay has posted an interesting article arguing the point of view that Google Chrome will have a difficult time catching up Microsoft SharePoint. While everyone is moving to the Web, many will be surprised ot find that Microsoft is already there. Very surprised.

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webkit ria sharepoint silverlight xaml ooxml msoffice

It's surprising how many people are still asleep at the wheel while Microsoft continues to nurture perhaps its fastest-growing product (in terms of revenue) ever: SharePoint.

The Web has been aflutter with Google Chrome discussions since it was released last week, much of it centering on Google's strategy to drive a stake through the heart of Microsoft's Windows business by shifting the operating system to the cloud, rendered in a browser.

Such talk overlooks the fact that Microsoft has already started to move its own Windows business to the cloud, rendered in SharePoint.

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webkit chrome sharepoint ria silverlight xaml ooxml