Dave Wolf

Thursday April 19, 2007

Wake up and see the Silverlight

Microsoft’s announcement of the official naming of “the technology formerly known as WPF/E” may have looked to a lot of pundits like nothing but a tiny glimmer of vaporware and hype as Microsoft tries to “copycat” Flash. The reality is that instead this was much more of a thermo-nuclear explosion and the shockwaves are just beginning to start rippling out. An even better analogy is to think of this as The Big Bang…that moment in time where a nexus of compressed potential energy explodes and instantly an entire universe is formed… and a universe that will rapidly expand to form stars, planets and entire ecosystems. That’s right…the entire RIA market just became real and it is about to explode, and it is thanks in large part to Microsoft and Silverlight.

I gotta tell you, I thought that time might be almost here anyway. At Cynergy, where all we do is RIA design and development, we were seeing the signs everywhere. Whether it was the explosive growth in our business, or in the sudden increase in articles in trade magazines and even traditional media outlets, or in attendance jumps at tradeshows like AjaxWorld, there has been a major tidal shift that had us wondering if the tipping point had arrived. Yet this week’s news that Microsoft has officially named Sparkle - WPF/E as Silverlight and that it is clearly and finally on its way to market truly is the tipping point that establishes that RIA's are real, RIA’s are the future and RIA’s will shape the way we are going to be developing software for some time to come. Microsoft just justified and legitimized RIA. That is HUGE.

Why do I say that? Let’s look at a few things, many to do with what people are saying all over the net this week. Specifically that Microsoft is just responding to the Flex/Flash platform with a copycat offering. I actually kind of agree, but that is what makes this all so important. Let’s look at the facts. First the name. There is no doubt that Silverlight is making an allusion to a “flash” (a bright silver light). In that same vane, notice their UE tradeshow is named MIX. Pretty close to MAX. This isn’t the first time Microsoft has used product names or code names to send a message to a competitor. Anyone remember the codenames Stinger and Rapier? They were the PocketPC and Smartphone code names. They are also surface to air missiles. Missiles whose job it is to shoot down planes, and of course, to kill Pilots... Palm Pilots. Second is the initial focus on video. That is where, in the last few years, Flash has really gone explosive and has made a real dent in a space Microsoft has wanted to grow. There is no question that this was a shot right at Adobe, Flash/Flex and their position today in the RIA market.

What will the results of that shot be? A RIA missile, race plain and simple. We saw a missile race very much like this just a few years ago architected by another major software firm, SUN Microsystems. That was the Java/J2EE missile race and pitted the likes of IBM against BEA and Oracle and about a half a dozen $1BB++ software companies and effectively transformed enterprise applications development ever since. Today Java is the de facto standard for enterprises the world around and it was created by a missile race of market leading software firms competing to own a new market. Microsoft this week started the RIA missile race.

Microsoft not only agreed to fight, they agreed on the weaponry - player based RIA's with Vector Drawing, Tweens, Animations and Choreography. In other words, Microsoft just told the world, yes Flash and Flex’s biggest selling points versus the rest of the RIA space are indeed the right approach and will be the future of how new RIA's are built. Tomorrow’s applications will be truly rich and cinematic combining HTML’s development simplicity and productivity with rich, interactive and engaging experiences.

The RIA wars have begun, and the missile race is underway. Just like duopolies of the past, this is good for the market, good for the technology and good for customers. Silverlight is the new power on the global stage and it will be a contender. At Cynergy we learned long ago that the value to our customers is to deliver the right technology to solve the right problem, and to not become emotionally tied to a technology, but to invest into a market and an approach. Today Flex represents a significant portion of the dozens of RIA development projects we are working on with Ajax coming in behind it. Silverlight, for now, does not have the muscle or ability to deliver the kinds of incredible RIA’s we are building with Flex, but do not discount Silverlight moving forward. I have no doubt that will change as the war heats up, and I have no doubt consumers will be better off for it.