There are a lot of rumors and innuendo around Silverlight, so lets try to make some sense on what is going on (or maybe I just end up adding to the rumors):
In my opinion Windows 8 is a staging OS as it supports both Classic and Metro interfaces. Windows 9 I expect to be Metro only - after all the desktop and laptop sales are reducing in favor of tablets and smart devices; in other words Classic = desktop/laptop, Metro = tablet/mobile.
Classic supports plugins like Silverlight and Flex and other browsers that can enable you with HTML5 support (as IE9 support for HTML5 from Geospatial perspective is inadequate). You can also install IE10 Classic on it (and yes, there are 2 versions of IE10 - Classic and Metro). IE9 of course supports also Java and HTML4 with JavaScript; in my opinion Classic includes everything you want for years to come.
Metro on the other hand does not support plugins, only supports IE10 Metro, but possibly will support other browsers via App Store. So no support for Silverlight and Java (unless maybe via J2ME?), limited support for HTML4 based apps but weirdly enough it is supposed to support Flash, but not sure if it is just some simple video capability or a full-spec FLEX.
The confusing thing here is that the latest versions of SharePoint and SSRS (SQL Server Reporting Services and Report Builder) are Silverlight based, but Metro is not going to allow you to access these? Or maybe MS will build some new Metro native apps to enable this later, but who knows?
Geospatial strategy with likes of ESRI is to use internally Silverlight (or maybe FLEX, however Silverlight is the one that Esri has been lately investing) and for external/public to use HTML5. But is this strategy going to be sound in the future now that MS has decided not to embrace SIlverlight in Metro? Looking at what I've heard and seen lately I am starting to think HTML5 is the only way to go, or maybe we might need to start doing some FLEX based solutions again (noooo, not that again).
So do you think I am a bit too worried on something that might not really affect anybody for years to come? Well, consider this: organisations need to plan several years ahead, so if you knew Silverlight was not going to be a viable solution for your Metro based OS (which you are planning on happening in next in 3 years), would you still continue developing rich Silverlight apps, interfaces etc? And if you know your organisation is planning for BYOD, does that affect your thinking?
Rest assured I will comment on this blog again once my Microsoft friends come back to me on what the actual plan/story is (I sent the email querying all this late last night).
In my opinion Windows 8 is a staging OS as it supports both Classic and Metro interfaces. Windows 9 I expect to be Metro only - after all the desktop and laptop sales are reducing in favor of tablets and smart devices; in other words Classic = desktop/laptop, Metro = tablet/mobile.
Classic supports plugins like Silverlight and Flex and other browsers that can enable you with HTML5 support (as IE9 support for HTML5 from Geospatial perspective is inadequate). You can also install IE10 Classic on it (and yes, there are 2 versions of IE10 - Classic and Metro). IE9 of course supports also Java and HTML4 with JavaScript; in my opinion Classic includes everything you want for years to come.
Metro on the other hand does not support plugins, only supports IE10 Metro, but possibly will support other browsers via App Store. So no support for Silverlight and Java (unless maybe via J2ME?), limited support for HTML4 based apps but weirdly enough it is supposed to support Flash, but not sure if it is just some simple video capability or a full-spec FLEX.
The confusing thing here is that the latest versions of SharePoint and SSRS (SQL Server Reporting Services and Report Builder) are Silverlight based, but Metro is not going to allow you to access these? Or maybe MS will build some new Metro native apps to enable this later, but who knows?
Geospatial strategy with likes of ESRI is to use internally Silverlight (or maybe FLEX, however Silverlight is the one that Esri has been lately investing) and for external/public to use HTML5. But is this strategy going to be sound in the future now that MS has decided not to embrace SIlverlight in Metro? Looking at what I've heard and seen lately I am starting to think HTML5 is the only way to go, or maybe we might need to start doing some FLEX based solutions again (noooo, not that again).
So do you think I am a bit too worried on something that might not really affect anybody for years to come? Well, consider this: organisations need to plan several years ahead, so if you knew Silverlight was not going to be a viable solution for your Metro based OS (which you are planning on happening in next in 3 years), would you still continue developing rich Silverlight apps, interfaces etc? And if you know your organisation is planning for BYOD, does that affect your thinking?
Rest assured I will comment on this blog again once my Microsoft friends come back to me on what the actual plan/story is (I sent the email querying all this late last night).