Talk:Microsoft Silverlight

Microsoft Silverlight was nominated as a good article, but it did not meet the good article criteria at the time (July 2, 2007). There are suggestions below for improving the article. If you can improve it, please do; it may then be renominated.

Computing: Software B‑class

	This article is within the scope of WikiProject Computing, a collaborative effort to improve the coverage of computers, computing, and information technology on Wikipedia. If you would like to participate, please visit the project page, where you can join the discussion and see a list of open tasks.ComputingWikipedia:WikiProject ComputingTemplate:WikiProject ComputingComputing articles
B	This article has been rated as B-class on Wikipedia's content assessment scale.
???	This article has not yet received a rating on the project's importance scale.
	This article is supported by WikiProject Software.

Microsoft: .NET B‑class

	This article is within the scope of WikiProject Microsoft, a collaborative effort to improve the coverage of articles relating to Microsoft on Wikipedia. If you would like to participate, please visit the project page, where you can join the discussion and see a list of open tasks.MicrosoftWikipedia:WikiProject MicrosoftTemplate:WikiProject MicrosoftMicrosoft articles
B	This article has been rated as B-class on Wikipedia's content assessment scale.
???	This article has not yet received a rating on the project's importance scale.
	This article is supported by WikiProject .NET (assessed as High-importance).

Archives

Index

new version

seem silverligth engine is now 2.0.30523.8 RTW

2.0.31005.0 RC0 -- Lowlander 13:03, 9 October 2008 (UTC)

Text in XAML ? (disambiguation)

Something i don't understand : why does "text in XAML" makes it more "searchable" than flash ? Crawler which don't have a clue about what a XAML definition is wouldn't be able to get the Text or data anyway. So, except (maybe) for the homepage, a crawler would still have to parse the XAML definition, know where to click, and then receive the following piece of text/screen definition. The fact that it could maybe be more searchable would be that screen definitions (and not just "text") are not compiled and written in an open format. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 193.253.198.164 (talk) 13:12, 24 July 2008 (UTC) _{Subscript text}[reply]

A crawler does not simulate user interaction, i.e., screen clicks and stuff. Instead, it takes a content file (HTML, XAML, SWF, DOC and what not) and reads the data out of it. True, a crawler that doesn't have a clue about XAML won't be of much use but still because XAML is just an XML vocabulary, it is much easier to deal with than a binary format (like Flash's SWF).

The entire XAML markup is in plain text, so anyone can look at a XAML file and write a parser that extracts text out of it. And because it is just XML, any standardized XML parser will be enough. Heck, even plain text indexing would work (albeit, very crudely). None of these involve Microsoft away the details of the format. Contrast this to the Flash format. The structure of the file isn't easily read. So unless Adobe provides the definition, its a closed book. And even when it does, a specific parser is needed. All these makes indexing XAML easier.

Now this is not to say XAML hasn't its problems. Unless MS gives the XAML schema, it is hard to know that the parsing is correct. Also, XAML can be changed in script. So you not only need to parse the XAML but also actually run it and read the data off the DOM. But even without these, you can get your stuff indexed (to a point). That was what was implied. --soum ^talk 11:20, 6 August 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Silverlight more searchable than Flash?

I just edited the Overview section adding a note to the claim that Silverlight is more searchable than Flash content, in the light of the recently released Flash player for search engines. Perhaps the original claim should instead just be removed in it's entirety?

Richardolsson (talk) 11:01, 17 July 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Windows 2000 and Firefox compatibility

I've just updated the Compatibility section where it was written that version 2.0 was supported by Firefox under Windows 2000. However even if the Microsoft website states the contrary, I was able to install version 2.0 Beta 1 and a Silverlight powered website, Banjo Kazooie works just fine. --Goa103 (talk) 00:23, 21 May 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Hi Goa103, you are right that 2.0 Beta 1 will install on Windows 2000 (I just tried it with an old W2K SP4 system), but actually I think the Banjo Kazooie site is only using 1.0, isn't it? - Pointillist (talk) 22:09, 11 July 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Talk Page

I have a feeling it was archived wrong; it is not showing in the Archive box. 74.65.42.5 (talk) 04:42, 11 July 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Usage

What does this program do for the average user? I couldn't understand any of this.Is this article only for folks who have spent hundreds or thousands of hours trying to understand all of the inner workings of a computer? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 76.173.38.251 (talk) 13:59, 6 August 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Microsoft Silverlight is a programmable web browser plugin that provides support for rich internet applications such as animation, vector graphics and audio-video playback.

Basically, on its own, it does not mean anything to end users. It is just another way to develop web browser-based applications that are more like standard desktop applications rather than web pages. However, you do not have to worry about it. Its for the developer of the application to decide whether she wants to use Silverlight or not. If she does not, well, you don't need it. If she does, you will need it. If you already have it installed, it will be seamlessly invoked and the application will run. If not, you will be prompted to install and the installation is a one time affair. --soum ^talk 22:08, 6 August 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Olympics/Democratic Convention Video

I don't know enough on the tech side to enter this myself, but it seems like an omission to not mention that silverlight has been the player for both of these.

Also, I don't have a dog in this fight, but if the Dem convention player's approach of reducing video quality briefly rather than buffering is a result of silverlight, isn't that an important detail? In practice, the video I've watched from that site seems like a huge jump from previous HD web content I've seen, which is what sent me to the page to begin with. (Again though, I do not have enough tech knowledge to know if the player functions so well because of silverlight)Quinnna (talk) 06:43, 28 August 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Intro was all wrong

The introductory summary of the technology was all wrong so I went ahead and edited it. The problem with the original intro was that it stated Silverlight was a plugin (only partially true - it's an RIA development platform, the plugin is just the client runtime part of it) intended for Internet Explorer (also partially true - Firefox and Opera are also supported) in order to fill its inadequacies (false - IE never tried to be an RIA platform). I think the new intro is much more accurate without being overly technical. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 67.101.0.169 (talk) 03:37, 30 August 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Someone has reverted your changes without posting a reason. I'm going to go ahead and put your copy back, as even the first line in the current intro is pretty misleading. 216.6.128.244 (talk) 01:32, 31 August 2008 (UTC)[reply]

No, the original was correct. Microsoft's own definition is "Microsoft Silverlight is a cross-browser, cross-platform, and cross-device plug-in ..." [[1]]. There is another product, Silverlight Tools, which provides development support. I plan to revert the intro back to the previous. Leotohill (talk) 13:17, 2 September 2008 (UTC)[reply]

SL isn't just a plug-in. Its a full featured managed code framework that can be hosted by any process provided they have access to the non-public SL hosting API. The plug-ins (ActiveX/NPAPI) is only once part of SL that wraps the hosting API in a browser-specific form, so that the browser can act as a SL host. Any wording to make that accessible to a layman? Until it can be found, a plug-in is the most accessible description and it should stay as such till then. --soum ^talk 20:10, 2 September 2008 (UTC)[reply]

The one I got rid of claimed that it was an IE plugin only. Check the log. 67.81.184.181 (talk) 21:34, 7 September 2008 (UTC)[reply]

VC-1 license

The article makes a point of stating 'Furthermore, the Software license agreement says VC-1 is only licensed for the "personal and non-commercial use of a consumer."'

Isn't that typical of any technology which utilizes VC-1 or MPEG-4 (including H.264) codecs? And isn't that also true for WMV9 (an implementation of VC-1) codecs that ship with Windows? Both VC-1 and H.264 are licensed through MPEG-LA. If I'm understanding the license correctly, the license is merely saying that the end user (viewer) is not responsible for any royalties to MPEG-LA as long as the codec is being used non-commercially. However, if you were to develop and deploy a commercial service based on VC-1, you'd probably need to check in with MPEG-LA. Am I reading that wrong? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 67.101.0.169 (talk) 03:43, 30 August 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Silverlight 2.0 compatible with Chrome?

Debackerl has marked Silverlight 2.0 as compatible with Chrome, but I don't think this is official. It might be true for some sites on some PCs (it worked for a test site of mine on a PC that already uses SL in FF) but relying on that would be original research. Many blogs say it doesn't always work, e.g. here, here and here, and as some people have pointed out it is too soon to say anyway. So I've marked this as "dubious" in the article. If anyone has more official info to contribute, please go ahead. - Pointillist (talk) 21:05, 11 September 2008 (UTC)[reply]

'DRM support' or 'DRM enforcement'?

I just messed up an edit summary, and of course, you can't fix them! I meant to say: "Google 'DRM enforcement' -> 623,000 hits; 'DRM support'-> 613,000 hits." --Nigelj (talk) 15:29, 13 September 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Additionally, the phrase "DRM enforcement" is used in patent applications by companies making the systems, so its not like corporate America is contesting the use of this term as derogatory or misleading; DRM enforcement really is the neutral-grounds term that could probably be accepted by all parties involved, users and companies alike. Zaphraud (talk) 20:54, 13 September 2008 (UTC)[reply]

For the record, if you google with quotes, [2], [3], [4], [5], enforcement only comes up with a total around 2000, while support comes up with a total around 87000. Support is the far more common phrase.--Crossmr (talk) 01:33, 14 September 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Congratulations to User:Leotohill for his solution to this knotty problem. Maybe the debate will continue elsewhere? - Pointillist (talk) 21:50, 13 September 2008 (UTC)[reply]