Filed under: Software, Internet Tools
Microsoft releases Silverlight 1.0
We've blogged about Silverlight on TUAW before, and now Silverlight 1.0 is available. Silverlight is Microsoft's answer to Adobe's juggernaut, Flash. This cross platform browser plugin (it works with Firefox and Safari on the Mac) was built from the ground up with RIA's (that's Rich Internet Applications, or fancy webpages in non-geek speak) in mind. Silverlight can also stream high resolution video (up to 720p), and promises to offer the same experience on both Macs and PCs.Keep in mind that this is a Microsoft product, so in order to create Silverlight apps you have to code in .Net, but I'm more interested in using Silverlight apps (Netflix, I'm looking at you).
Silverlight is free, and works with OS X 10.4.8 and above.
Silverlight is set to auto-update, so if you want to turn that off keep reading.
Once you have installed Silverlight (instructions here) navigate to a page with some Silverlight content embedded in it (i just went to the Silverlight homepage). Right click on a Silverlight area, and a menu will pop up:
Clicking on that menu will bring up the Silverlight Configuration screen:
There you can set Silverlight not to auto check for updates, though Microsoft warns against it.
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
Michel said 3:02AM on 9-05-2007
marketoïds bots say "ria" rich internet whatever.
but geeks says "f... non standards pages"
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Ashwin Rajani said 3:52AM on 9-05-2007
Hasn't 1.0 been out since the middle of last month?
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henrrik said 3:41AM on 9-05-2007
After the shenanigans they pulled with the ISO vote on OOXML, I'm not gonna touch any of their stuff.
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tim said 4:16AM on 9-05-2007
can people just PLEASE not download this so it can phase out earlier than usual?
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Nevan said 5:00AM on 9-05-2007
Please do download this so Adobe has a reason to improve mac flash.
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Henri Smeets said 5:31AM on 9-05-2007
Yeah, just being curious I installed it and viewed their examples.
My findings:
- dreamy 'fuzzy' video interface, small and unclear
- the keynote video gave an error dialogue requiring to click 'ok' TEN times for it to go away!!!
- nothing different compared Flash on the viewer side
http://members.chello.nl/h.smeets3/loose/Silverlight.jpg
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Wysiwyg said 6:05AM on 9-05-2007
Screw it, the last thig i'm looking for is a reason to use WMV.
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Fredrik said 8:30AM on 9-05-2007
You really should read the privacy policy Microsoft applies to Silverlight. There is no way I will install it on any Mac or Windows machine with that policy in effect.
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Tom said 7:12AM on 9-05-2007
This is how the BBC is going to be implementing iPlayer for Mac so don't go boycotting it.
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James22 said 7:42AM on 9-05-2007
I don't like DRM. I really don't like the previous versions Microsoft developed. But I am glad to see this. Hopefully as its use increases DRM content will be available on Mac -- since I cannot hold my breath as long as it will take for DRM to go away...
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Rick said 9:12AM on 9-05-2007
This is the sort of seemingly benevolent technology from Microsoft that is truly dangerous.
People, please realize that if this becomes mainstream in any way, shape, or form, then no one using Mac OS X can create content for this "standard".
Microsoft is simply trying to extend their web of influence, and they've proven time and again that they will be absolutely cutthroat in competing to enter this market, and then once they're ahead, they will languish and not care about supporting fringe OSes that they don't profit from.
I don't understand how anyone can trust Microsoft with another web format, when they couldn't even improve standard HTML support after years of dragging their feet with IE7.
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nv2900 said 8:08AM on 9-05-2007
WHY?!!! *sigh* Flash, Ajax, H.264 mpeg4, it's enough for bloody crying out loud!!!!! *sigh*
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Michel said 8:16AM on 9-05-2007
>11. WHY?!!! *sigh* Flash, Ajax, H.264 mpeg4, it's enough for bloody crying
>out loud!!!!! *sigh*
EXACTLY because of that. MS can't accept that insult !
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Rhywun said 8:37AM on 9-05-2007
"Microsoft Silverlight will be more vulnerable to security threats without the latest updates."
Hm. It sounds like my Mac will be less vulnerable to security threats without installing Silverlight.
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Jim said 8:42AM on 9-05-2007
dose this get rid of adobe flash in anyway?
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Flasher said 10:11AM on 9-05-2007
Ha! It kinda looks like that guy is using an iPhone in their intro video.
Their extremely derived, poorly paced intro video.
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Johnny Thrash said 10:13AM on 9-05-2007
Never gonna happen.
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Shaaun said 10:40AM on 9-05-2007
I'm going to reserve judgement until I see what they do with .NET. Silverlight was built on the .NET framework and works on OSX (there's even a Linux version coming) so who knows? Maybe Visual Studio will become a cross-platform dev tool.
Anyways, in case anyone is interested, Silverlight also works with Camino on PPC Macs.
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?!? said 10:17AM on 9-05-2007
Why do they bother? What's the compulsion? Are they so insecure that they can't stand the idea that there exists, somewhere, a market unsullied by their gut-wrenchingly tasteless touch?
Jesus fucking Christ, I wouldn't even give a shit about Microsoft--let them bathe in their own shit if they want, I mean, what's it to me?--but they just *have* to go around spreading the filth to the rest of the world. Fucking sociopaths.
And of course you're "interested in using Silverlight apps." Of course you've blogged about it before. We'd expect no less of you, TUAW staff, you latent PC users you. Love!
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basscadet said 10:25AM on 9-05-2007
hope it dies a silent death
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