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Is Microsoft Setting Its Sights on Adobe?


WPF meets the browser as Silverlight, minus 3D and data binding features

By David Worthington
May 15, 2007 — 
It may be fresh out of the gate, but Microsoft’s Silverlight is already being viewed by many industry watchers as a potential threat to Adobe Systems’ ubiquitous Flash platform. But, is taking on Flash Microsoft’s motive, or is the real story more nuanced than that?

Microsoft unveiled Silverlight, a platform for building advanced vector graphics into rich Internet applications, on April 16. Silverlight is a cross-browser plug-in formerly known as WPF/E, or Windows Presentation Foundation Everywhere.

Windows Presentation Foundation is the graphical subsystem of .NET 3.0 and is built into Windows Vista. Silverlight is an offshoot of WPF for the Web that is powered by Extensible Application Markup Language (XAML) and JavaScript, making it interoperable with AJAX Web applications. However, Silverlight lacks some WPF features, including 3D graphics and data binding.

According to Microsoft, Silverlight is cross-platform: It is available for Macintosh as well as Windows and is compatible with Firefox and Safari as well as Internet Explorer. No Linux support has been announced, but other platforms are being evaluated, said Keith Smith, a group product manager in the development division at Microsoft.

At least one Linux distributor, Ubuntu, would love the opportunity to port the Silverlight runtime to Linux. According to Ubuntu spokesman Joseph Eckert, “Microsoft has stated that Silverlight is a cross-platform plug-in. ‘Cross-platform’ does not mean ‘two-platform,’ and if the Microsoft team needs help getting this to work on Ubuntu, we would be delighted to help them accelerate that. If it’s open source—who knows? There might finally be some Microsoft code in a Linux distribution.”

Microsoft’s Smith noted that Silverlight applications could be hosted on any server technology to reach the broader Web community. Any Web application server can serve up Silverlight content, said a spokesperson. Microsoft is likewise looking into supporting other browsers and devices.

‘ADOBE KILLER’ RUMORS
Over the past year, the rumor mill has whispered that Microsoft was readying an “Adobe killer.” Smith denied that Microsoft is targeting Adobe. Indeed, Smith said that Flash and Silverlight work well side-by-side in a browser, “This is not a rip-and-replace proposition.” Smith acknowledged the inevitability of a third-party translation tool.

NPG Group analyst Chris Swenson demurred, saying, “Yes, [Adobe and Microsoft] will be competing, but they do have an argument that, in some respects, they are not competing. Adobe is not targeting the Visual Studio users now; they are leaving that to Microsoft. Microsoft has millions of Visual Studio developers in its camp, and they are looking for an easier way to collaborate with designers. It is a more nuanced story.”

Swenson continued, “Adobe is a leading solution provider in this space, after acquiring Macromedia, and has a best-of-breed suite. Microsoft has been smart about how they have done it by focusing on areas Adobe has not focused on, and they are using their strengths also. It’s unrealistic to take on Adobe.”

To that end, Silverlight is targeting Visual Studio developers to provide the marketplace with new experiences using standards-based Web techniques, Smith said. Smith expects that its partners will build an “ecosystem” around Silverlight by adding new components like many already did with ASP.NET and Windows Forms.

Adobe vice president of marketing Jeff Whatcott said Microsoft’s approach to rich Internet applications isn’t holistic. “They’re doing what they need to have a story in the marketplace. They’re driving people to Windows.”

An add-in for Visual Studio “Orcas” Beta 1 released at Microsoft’s MIX07 earlier this month, delivered support for Silverlight.

By contrast, Adobe has designated Eclipse as its platform of choice. Flex 2.0 is the company’s Eclipse-based IDE for building rich Internet applications on its Flash platform, and uses the proprietary MXML markup language and ActionScript.

Although XAML and MXML are both XML-based user interface markup languages, they are not designed to work together. ActionScript is an ECMAScript-derived programming language, used by developers to describe logic and event handling within applications developed in Flash and Flex.

Dave Gruber, Adobe’s group product marketing manager for Flex, said that it was conceivable that a third party could overcome core differences and translate from XAML to MXML.

Gruber would not comment on Silverlight, saying only that Adobe was looking into it.

CART BEFORE THE HORSE?
Microsoft is gradually rolling out its new platform. Even before Visual Studio fully supports Silverlight, Redmond is emphasizing its usefulness to digital media content owners and creators. Expression Designer converts Windows Media Video into Silverlight applications, removing the playback requirement for Windows Media Player.

Additionally, Windows Media Services and IIS 7 in Windows Server “Longhorn” will provide a media pack to give organizations more control over how media assets are utilized, said Smith. “We will get ubiquity by having content and experiences that are not on other platforms.” Microsoft has stated publicly that Longhorn Server will be released in the second half of 2007.

In the absence of Silverlight tooling, developers can build Silverlight applications using a text editor such as XamlPad, because it is JavaScript- and XML-based.

When asked whether Microsoft was putting the cart before the horse by releasing Silverlight before there are tools to fully exploit it, Smith explained, “We have to crawl before we can run, and to have the platform right. We need a stable foundation before the tools experience can catch up.”


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