Silverlight Hosting :: Silverlight Vs Flash

Which is better, Silverlight or Flash? If you are still deciding between Silverlight hosting and Flash hosting, perhaps this article will help you take a decision. First, let's see what Silverlight is. It is a cross-browser and cross-platform browser plug-in that comes to the aid of companies when it comes to designing, developing, and delivering complex applications on the World Wide Web. This system is very easy to install and the download is absolutely free. Silverlight is able to create rich Internet applications by working with the.NET framework and can create visually rich experiences. The system also allows for rapid development. Silverlight is able to deliver high quality video and makes sure people stay engaged longer. This means more money for some of you.

However, Flash is a strong competitor! Unlike Silverlight, it can work on Linux, which is a very nice feature. Although Silverlight is able to use WMV but this is useless when it comes to websites like YouTube. The system is unable to work with.avi and.mov files. It is also unable to bind to models or even connect to the network and obtain data. Flash contains list views, buttons, list buttons, checkboxes, and grids. These things are missing in Microsoft's product, making some jobs more difficult than they should be. Flash supports GIF and BMP formats, aside popular formats such as JPG and PNG which are exclusively supported by Silverlight. In Microsoft's platform, sound processing is unavailable and so is socket programming.

Although Flash might have all the above features, Silverlight also has a lot of aces up its sleeve. For example, it supports animations, through the WPF animation model. The model is time based not frame based. All you have to do is define the start and end conditions and the system will figure a way to ge there. By using this algorithm, matrixes are completely eliminated. Also, Silverlight works with XAML (text based) and a simple XML object can output it. When it comes to debugging, Microsoft's product is much more easy to use and also more versatile than Flash. You can also use true type fonts directly in the projects. Silverlight supports JavaScript, C#, and VB.NET programming languages. Flash uses ActionScript, while Silverlight uses XAML. The first is imperative, while the second is declarative. ActionScript is around since the early days of DOS when developers needed to manage the API when interacting with graphics.