According to a report here, Michael Arrington from TechCrunch claims MicroSoft's attempt to fend Flex off has already won.
The article asks very valid questions, which I can't resist posting my answers to.
- Does Silverlight get my app in front of more users (more reach)?
Nope - writing to the Flash run time runs on more computers than Silverlight, which only runs on new versions of Windows and Macs. - Does Silverlight allow my app to do more, or be smaller, or be faster (more rich)?
Again, nope, Silverlight lacks many controls and other features of the more mature Flex. The download is bigger, and unlikely to be faster in execution as both run native code. - What are the business ramifications of aligning with Microsoft’s platform?
Disaster, high cost and lock in. Hardly needs saying. - What is the growth path for Silverlight?
I assume it'll play catch-up to Flex/Apollo, adding more and more features in a race to catch and distract from Adobe. It's a long time since Microsoft did anything truly insightful or inventive.
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