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I know I know, I really should not feel as much Schadenfreude as I do over this topic but it’s just too good to miss (and hey, any chance of something like this happening to Adobe and I’m sure the dark side would be all over it 
Some may argue that this is not a big deal – you win some, you lose some – but MLB.com is no small fry. CNet describes it as ‘the Web’s most successful subscription service’ serving half a million (!) subscribers.
What went on behind the scenes is now starting to emerge as – according to CNet – Microsoft points the finger at ‘a series of glitches and conflicts between the companies’. Moreover, the lawyers are now apparently involved which sounds like a major fallout to me. MLBAM’s CEO is even heard talking about an ‘ongoing dispute with Microsoft’. Oh dear. Can it be worse than Adobe and Apple banging heads over Flash on the iPhone? Maybe.
I guess we’ll have to see how things progress for Silverlight, but I still fail to see the real advantage of the platform, at least from a user’s point of view. Sure, it must be great being a .NET developer now being able to hack away at a new platform, using new (and existing) tools, but what problem is this plugin really trying to solve? What does it offer that Flash hasn’t been doing for years? I’m a developer myself and naturally curious, but so far I have had next to no urge to even install the Silverlight development tools (which ideally require you to run Windows as you desktop OS).
I know I keep asking this, but where are the impressive Silverlight apps built by the Silverlight community, I mean those that did not make the showcase pages (yes, we’ve seen the Olympics now. And Netflix. Next?), and why does it seem that all the existing showcases are built around a video experience? It’s not all about video you know!?
Let’s revisit this topic in a year. What do you think the RIA playing field will look like then?
Topics: Adobe, Apple, Flash, iPhone, Silverlight
