Microsoft Silverlight Introduction
The Internet has evolved to the point where many people today are using
it for all their communication needs. With the rapidly changing
communication tools of today, people can make appointments over the web,
or even shop for groceries and find answers to their questions.
Competition among companies is very stiff over the Internet, as you only
have a few moments to capture the attention of potential customers.
When it comes to presentations, companies are now making use of
animation, videos, and even vector graphics to increase the digital
experience of the user.
This has led to an increase in demand for the construction of vivid
media experiences which are combined with applications that are highly
interactive. This resulted in introduction of Microsoft Silver Light, a
multiple browser and platform plugin that offers a highly advanced .NET
media experience.
In addition to this, Microsoft Silver Light also offers RIAs, or Rich
Interactive Applications. One feature which is unique to MS Silver
Light is that it is totally self contained, and it is not dependent on
other products like Windows Media Player when it comes to video
playback. You should also note that MS Silver Light is also not
dependent on the .NET Framework 3.0.
There are a number of features which make Silver Light quite
impressive. First off, it can dramatically enhance the appearance of
applications, making use of media, animation, text, and even vector
based graphics.
Silver Light offers content which is not only rich, but also
immersive, and it fits perfectly within the environment for web
development. By making use of Silver Light, your website can be given a
personal touch, no matter what type of enterprise you operate.
Of all the ways in which ideas can be presented over the web, Microsoft
Silver Light is one of the most powerful and robust. When it comes to
web development solutions for your business, the possibilities that
Silver Light offers you are unlimited, but to fully understand its
potential, it is first important to become familiar with Rich
Interactive Applications.
Rich Interactive Applications
The goal of RIAs is to give more control and interactivity to the end
user, allowing them to complete tasks which would normally be
considered mundane through a rich user environment.
User experience is the most important factor which must be
considered, and true RIA tools have the ability enhance content without
altering its context. Those who are familiar with the Desktop Experience
may be thinking that this concept is very similar. However, there are
some differences between Desktop Experience and RIAs.
The biggest difference between the two involves the capability for
middle tier positioning. In other words, it can be used for multiple
clients and device surfaces, and it does not require a great deal of
effort by the end user.
To give you an example of this, think of a basic HTML bullet list
which contains a collection of names. Every name symbolizes an
individual or person inside an organization. The end user will click on
one of the names, and once they do, the view context will be altered,
causing the screen to repaint itself, showing a more detailed view of
the name you clicked on.
You may be presented with tabs, as well as metadata or photos. If you
decide to add animations of even controls, as well as a desktop like
menu, your RIA will be very similar to a desktop.
RIA is powerful because it has the ability to alter the perception of
the person using it, adjusting the context to allow the end user the
ability to aggregate the pieces of data, which will allow them to
complete tasks which are normally complex without large amounts of
effort.
Instead of using a collection of hyper linked names in the form of
bullets, you could instead make use of Document icons via the GridView
Container. Every icon will have a male/female icon in the upper right
corner.
With MS Silverlight, as the experience is altered for the user, the
interactivity will also be changed, and yet the information within the
rich client can remain static or passive.
You have the option of handling it like a document if you want, but
you have a lot of options along with this. As one scrolls down a page,
they will see controls placed inside the it. Video, audio, or other
forms of media can also be embedded.
MS Silver Light is more than just a tool which emulates the desktop
user interface. While many associate RIA with the Internet, it has
little to do with it, and functions more as an agent which is attached
to the Intranet or Internet.
With tools such as RIA, you can easily cut/copy/paste between two
different websites simply by aggregating the views. While RIA technology
has a lot of potential, it also has some growing up to do.
There is some confusion that exists when it comes to applications and
the attention economies, and it becomes clear that the technology is
not as mature is it could be. At the same time, Microsoft Silver Light
has successfully taken RIA to a whole new level, and it has a large
amount of potential for enterprises.
Microsoft has spent a great deal of time making sure that its
applications reach the proper amount of maturity before fully
advertising them. In today's world, IT can be thought of as being
evolutionary, and it becomes more intelligent as time passes on.
For Microsoft, Silver Light is very important, because it is one of
the keys to our technological future. With the introduction of Silver
Light, Microsoft has made it clear that their goal is to redefine the
concept of RIA.
While the term RIA is used most often to refer to Rich Internet
Applications, Microsoft uses the acronym Rich Interactive Applications.
If you are a media developer, one thing that you should realize is
that this tool has been designed for individuals like you. While this
article mentions the Silver Light's ability to process both audio and
video content, Microsoft has also emphasized the interactive
capabilities of this tool.
One thing that many MS observers realize is that the company has
always favored rich clients over the web clients, and the release of
Silver Light only continues this legacy.
Another point to note is that Silver Light has been released as
Microsoft's answer to Flash, a technology which of course was pioneered
by Adobe. Because Silver Light is a browser plug-in, it will be capable
of functioning with a large number of platforms. It functions with
browsers such as Firefox, Safari, and course, Internet Explorer.
Additionally, it can operate on desk top computers and even portable
devices such as mobile phones and the Zune MP3 player. One particular
thing which I find impressive about Silverlight is its support for SMPTE
VC01, which is a video standard that is also utilized by WMV.
With all these capabilities, there is little doubt that Silverlight
will pose a significant challenge to Adobe Flash, which has dominated
the online media environment for many years.
DRM, or Digital Rights Management, is another area which Silverlight
will address. Because of the importance which DRM plays in the media and
entertainment industry today, addressing this issue gives Silverlight a
significant edge in the online interactive media environment, but DRM
control will still be maintained by the content providers themselves.