Comments on: My Thoughts On Silverlight vs. Flash

By: Tom

Tom — Tue, 26 Jun 2007 08:46:24 +0000

Joe,
Have you actually worked with Silverlight? No components, 5 Mbyte plugin download, 3 different versions, iffy multiplatform support… Silverlight in my opinion at least 18 months away from real world use. By then I am sure Adobe will have pulled out a number of new “rabbits out of the hat” to solidify it’s market position…
FYI, no one has even seen Silverlight mobile yet… Flash lite is already deployed on millions of phones.

By: Danny Mavromatis

Danny Mavromatis — Thu, 07 Jun 2007 19:42:14 +0000

Joe P,
I have worked on some very high profile applications, the ABC FEP is one of them and everything I stated is based on experience not theory.
I don’t understand your video-is-video statement. No, all video is different. It’s about how efficient the player is when rendering it. Flash sucks! It’s great for low quality, but for higher quality content, you’re really pushing it. VC-1 is an industry standard (in both HD DVD and BluRay spec).
As for Flash video security, yes, I have been using it for years since FlashComm 1.0 days. It’s not a true accredited content security system. I don’t think ADBE would even call it secure.
As for the IDE comment, I disagree. It’s different than the Flash model, sure, but I feel that it will be easier for designers. I could be wrong, however, it made sense to me (I consider myself more of a developer). The reason why I said it could attract After Effect folks is that the UI and Flow relates more to that software than VS or Flash.
Your point about Expression Blend not being available on the MAC — true. But, all new Mac are PC’s, so you can use Blend.

By: Joe P

Joe P — Thu, 07 Jun 2007 19:11:17 +0000

Your comment about actionscript 2/3 not being a real language is conjecture. What defines a “real” language? Someone who is versed in these languages probably has a lot more design patterns under his belt than a C++ programmer due to the nature of the emphasis on proper structure in flex programming and event models.
Video – silverlight? Come on… it’s hype. Video is video and flash video is EVERYWHERE. Silverlight is nowhere.
better video quality? I’ve used flash video on2 codec and I cant tell the difference. The difference is between WMV which used hardware acceleration to provide smoother frame rates. Silverlight doesnt use hardware — so its still software based rendering.
Flash video does have encryption and streaming — Have you ever tried using it without progressive download?
The timeline in expression blend is horrific. Have you ever tried using the program? It’s a joke. Maybe down the line it will be fine, but the program is bloated and is nowhere near after effects. I dont know why it would attract after effects – after effects is video editing and special effects and it rocks. Expression blend is windows only and not mac. Designers use macs.