Microsoft MVP reviews the features and value of Silverlight

"Silverlight is a client-run time that provides developers with a platform for design and development and delivers a rich and interactive experience on the Internet." It can be imagined that the phrase extracted from the first paragraph of the "Silverlight 2 in Action" I wrote did not have a descriptive effect on the excellent features of Silverlight. In fact, if you are introducing Silverlight to others, they will probably only be interested in what this thing is useful to them. It is quite challenging to do this, because many of the features of Silverlight have varying degrees of value for different users.

The value of Silverlight to ordinary users

Silverlight is a software from Microsoft that enables you to interact with some new applications on the Internet. These applications provide a new way to view pictures or maps in a holistic manner. These apps will show you the richest media on the internet. As with traditional Web applications, such as time entry applications, you can still use it in Silverlight, even without networking. Even more surprisingly, these experiences from Silverlight can be achieved in less than a minute of downloads and one installation.

User: What is "omni-directional view picture or map"?

Silverlight brings stunning picture details to the user through a feature called Deepzoom. Deepzoom provides a fine enough degree to compare with a digital camera. Imagine, for example, a finger print on a guitar or a slice of fish. These details can be observed in any part of the image through the Deepzoom "Zoom in" feature zoom. At the same time, the speed of the page loading is still very fast, because deepzoom only crawl what they need! This feature is particularly useful for map applications on the Internet.

User: That's great, but why is it better to see the video in Silverlight?

Silverlight supports the most popular audio and video formats on the Internet. In addition, Silverlight supports a new video format called "VC-1". VC-1 is important because big companies are already starting to support this format. The latest HD Video player (HI-DEF) supports VC-1. Xbox 360 and Netflix are also supported. Basically, you can watch the video on Netflix or 360 or on your networked machine, which is a blessing for VC-1.

User: Yes, but I'm not interested in watching video. Why should I care about Silverlight?

Silverlight is more than just a media player. In fact, Silverlight allows you to experience your favorite Web application in the event of a disconnected network. AOL, for example, has demonstrated the ability to browse messages using Silverlight. Ameria online. In addition to this example, Silverlight can replace the annoying data entry tables that you might often use at work.

User: That sounds really good, but is it going to be a hassle to install?

In fact, it's no trouble at all. When you browse to a Web site that uses Silverlight, if your machine is not installed, it will actively prompt you to install. If you agree to install, it will guide you through the installation process for about a minute. Better yet, you just have to install it once. If you're at work, you should have your network administrator install it over the Internet because it's smoother.

The value of Silverlight to developers

Silverlight is a client-run time that provides you with a platform for design and development and a rich interactive application (RIA) for the Internet. You can use your favorite. NET-supported languages to develop these applications, and some of the features of the. NET base Class Library can also be useful to you. Also, Silverlight makes it easier to create input tables, load data, upload binaries, or text messages. All of this has a lightning speed inside and outside the browser.

Developer: What are the development languages to choose from?

Silverlight supports both dynamic and static languages. Specifically, the ECMA standard C#,javascript, and the popular Visual Basic language. In addition, Silverlight also supports IronPython and IronRuby, respectively, of Python and Ruby versions under the. NET Framework.