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Microsoft's Silverlight aims to topple Flash

Stealing the limelight from Adobe?
With the rapid rise of Web video, the competition between Microsoft and Adobe is set to intensify.

Microsoft has existing customers in the media industry looking to introduce more online content. It is also looking to move beyond its huge base of software programmers into the realm of graphics and Web designers. Adobe's products for creative professionals represent more than half the company's income.

For its part, Adobe is looking to marry Web development with content authoring. Its recently introduced Creative Suite 3 allows designers to publish content, such as photos and videos, in print, on the Web or mobile devices.

At the NAB Show, Adobe plans to announce the Adobe Media Player, formerly code-named Philo, which is free software for playing Flash format videos offline. It's slated to be released later this year.

Forest Key, director of product management in Microsoft's Server and Tools Division, said Silverlight will offer advantages over Flash. Windows that display streaming video within a browser page can be resized because Silverlight uses vector graphics, he said. Microsoft also will offer content publishers digital rights management tools.

In addition, developers familiar with Microsoft's .Net tools for writing Windows or Web applications can use their existing skills for online video.

The software giant intends to demonstrate its Expression Media Encoder, a tool for preparing existing Windows Media Video files for the Web, at the NAB show -- aimed at graphics designers and Web developers, this is due to be released later in the second quarter.

The user interface design for Silverlight is written using a Microsoft-developed language called XAML.

Applications also can be written using JavaScript or HTML. At Mix07, Microsoft will detail other scripting languages that can be used to write Silverlight applications, Key said.

Eventually, Microsoft intends to create versions of Silverlight that run on mobile devices.

Although Microsoft has signed on media and advertising companies interested in Silverlight, the technology still does not have broad industry support.

Hosted application provider Salesforce.com has no plans to support Silverlight because it "isn't a factor in the marketplace", said Adam Gross, director of product marketing at Salesforce.

Also at the NAB conference, Microsoft plans to detail enhancements to Windows Longhorn Server, due later this year, geared specifically at serving up video more efficiently, Key said. The company will also discuss an addition to its SharePoint server tailored to the media and entertainment industry.