Microsoft struck by HTML5 commitment phobia
Silverlight, I wish I could quit you — Back during the era of certainty, the time of proprietary source code and software product roadmaps, Microsoft was a company you could bank on. — Microsoft would announce a new version of Windows or Office …
Context & Ripple Effects
Microsoft has spent two years talking out of both sides of its mouth on rich internet applications. After Adobe dismissed Silverlight as having 'really fizzled' in 2009 and a 2008 plan to push it via a redesigned homepage, October 2010 brought the pivotal admission that the Silverlight strategy had 'shifted' toward HTML5 for cross-browser work. At this week's Mix '11 conference, Microsoft is touting upcoming Silverlight features and expanded platform support — yet the plugin was sidelined from both day one and day two keynotes, chagrining developers in attendance.
First-order effects
- Developers who built careers and codebases on Silverlight now face mixed signals from Microsoft itself: keynote marginalization at Mix '11 alongside promises of new features and broader platform support.
Second-order effects
- Adobe stands to regain ground it lost when Silverlight fizzled, as enterprises weighing a proprietary .NET-based plugin against open HTML5 see even Microsoft hedging its bets.
Third-order effects
- If platform vendors keep signaling HTML5-first while maintaining legacy plugins, the long-run structure points toward the browser's open standards displacing proprietary runtimes — and vendor roadmap credibility becoming the scarce commodity.
The trend: Rich internet application development is consolidating around open HTML5 standards, leaving plugin platforms like Silverlight caught between investment and wind-down.