Adobe: Microsoft's Silverlight ‘has really fizzled’
Addressing attendees at a tech-and-telecom conference on Tuesday, Adobe EVP and CFO Mark Garrett spoke of the challenges ahead. Microsoft's software doesn't appear to be one of them. — Speaking at a fireside-chat style event …
Context & Ripple Effects
Adobe's public dismissal of Silverlight is the sharpest signal yet in a rivalry that has been running since 2007, when coverage framed the fight as Apollo versus Silverlight and Sun piled on by attacking both Adobe's Apollo runtime and Microsoft's new plugin. Adobe CFO Mark Garrett's comment at a tech-and-telecom conference amounts to a victory lap: the incumbent in rich internet applications arguing its challenger has lost momentum. The remark matters because it was delivered by a CFO — framing Silverlight not as a technical threat but as one that no longer factors into Adobe's competitive calculus.
First-order effects
- Adobe publicly downgrades Microsoft from primary competitor to non-factor in the rich internet application market, signaling to developers and investors that it sees no near-term threat from Silverlight.
- Microsoft faces reputational pressure around Silverlight adoption, forcing it to defend the platform's viability just as third-party runtimes compete for developer mindshare.
Second-order effects
- Developers weighing plugin investments get a clearer signal to standardize on Flash/AIR or open web standards rather than hedge across competing runtimes, accelerating consolidation around fewer platforms.
- Microsoft is pushed into a defensive messaging cycle — later claiming its Silverlight strategy has shifted while simultaneously touting coming features — as it recalibrates whether to keep fighting Adobe head-on or pivot toward HTML5.
Third-order effects
- If proprietary browser plugins keep fizzling against each other, the structural winner may be neither vendor but the open web itself — a trajectory consistent with the HTML5-vs-plugin tension that defined the following years.
- The episode reinforces a pattern where platform incumbents declare rivals dead via executive commentary, making CFO-level competitive rhetoric an early indicator of which platform battles are effectively over.
The trend: Browser-based rich application platforms are consolidating away from competing proprietary plugins toward open web standards, with each vendor retreat confirming the shift.