Comments on: Morgan Stanley: why we didn’t use Silverlight for Matrix

By: AG

AG — Fri, 03 Jun 2011 04:03:00 +0000

Plug-in dependency: you are missing one key point regarding the Silverlight plug-in at banks. Although you (mostly developers) can download/install plug-ins on your PCs, most bank users and institutional clients do not have Admin access to their PC, so cannot download & install on demand. They have to request an Administrator or Help Desk to do this and make take days. Many clients will lose interest if they have to go through this process.

By: Franco Robles

Franco Robles — Thu, 03 Jun 2010 05:06:38 +0000

I am a Silverlight Developer and about these comparisons, all I can say is compare the applications that have been built using Silverlight or Flash. About Morgan Stanley Matrix application, the UI looks very interactive and engaging. On the business side, may it be silverlight or flash as long as it is serving me something and giving me anything that I need, I WILL DOWNLOAD THE PLUGIN. On the developer side, FOR ME, the latest silverlight version can almost do anything including this Morgan Stanley Matrix application. Or even a better one.

By: AJ

AJ — Mon, 19 Apr 2010 13:49:03 +0000

I don’t understand the installed / not installed argument. When my content requires Flash 10 what do you think I’ll do? The installed argument doesn’t carry much weight in my book. Silverlight will gain acceptance as Flash has.

I suspect that Flash 10 is increasing its penetration due to the prevalence of Flash in general. Its installation can’t really be compared with the success of Flash or Silverlight. It would be better to compare new projects.

Flash is commercially more expensive. I hope Silverlight penetration at least reduces the TCO for Flash applications.

I also find it hard to ignore the .NET integration.

Personally, I believe they both have a place at the table as do the AJAX technologies. I doubt I’ll ever see a compelling argument to alter the dynamics of my technology organisation to accommodate one over the other. External factors will drive adoption.

By: Arch

Arch — Thu, 11 Mar 2010 16:53:39 +0000

It’s amazing how much weight is put on a 30 second download. The download of silverlight (or flash) plugin is a non-issue. But if this is the only lifesaver the flash folks can hang on to, I guess they will… for dear life. Take a look at the job reqs on dice.com, etc. The number of Silverlight positions are going through the roof.

By: Josh

Josh — Wed, 17 Feb 2010 19:04:11 +0000

I was at Morgan when they were developing this, and I have to say it’s amazing, but the irony is that most banks and other large financial companies don’t support Flash at all. I’m on IE6 as I write this. I’m not an expert like the ones on this site, but it seems to me that .NET can do a lot of the same stuff without any dependency on web browsers — wouldn’t that be better for enterprise technology like this?

By: Brian Lesser

Brian Lesser — Sat, 01 Aug 2009 16:26:48 +0000

Hi Craig,

I don’t believe the comparison between Flash/Flex and Silverlight is so simple.

While the browser installation rate is critically important for many applications it is not always so important in organizations that control the desktop AND are primarily .Net shops. Similarly, some organizations will always be less risk averse if there is something else driving them to use Silverlight.

On technology and development tools there are still things you can do with Flash 10 that you cannot do with Silverlight 3 including sophisticated text flow, peer-to-peer data, audio, and video transfer, and local audio and video capture. On the other hand Silverlight’s raw code execution performance is clearly better. So things aren’t really so simple. Tools for developing entire projects – including things like Flash, Flex framework, Flash Catalyst, Flash Building, CS4 and so on – again its not so simple.

Of course both Adobe and Microsoft continue to improve their products so that what seems true today is certain to change next year and the year after.

By: Craig

Craig — Sat, 01 Aug 2009 12:20:32 +0000

The comparison between Flex and Silverlight is pretty simple.

Flex benefits: Almost all browsers have flash installed.

Silverlight benefits: Vastly superior technology and development tools.

By: Clyde Davies

Clyde Davies — Fri, 31 Jul 2009 12:40:51 +0000

Then how come TVs could ever beat Radios some decades ago given that Radios had 100% of penetration rate back then while TVs started out from 0% and cost lot more?

A better question might be to ask why DAB Radio has been such a miserable failure compared to analogue radio, given its manifest improvements in quality and technical advantages?

By: junihor

junihor — Thu, 30 Jul 2009 23:22:07 +0000

“The unfortunate problem Microsoft faces in the RIA space is that technological superiority – code quality, reliability, maintainability, size, performance, etc – is basically worthless.”

Then how come TVs could ever beat Radios some decades ago given that Radios had 100% of penetration rate back then while TVs started out from 0% and cost lot more? If you only count on penetration rate to fend off SilverLight, good luck. I don’t think every browser comes with a PDF plugin in it yet it hasn’t stop people from installing one and reading the PDF files online, has it?

By: John Allwright

John Allwright — Thu, 30 Jul 2009 20:20:08 +0000

Apologies, this is the Evans Data report I was referring to http://www.computerworld.com.au/article/310280/microsoft_silverlight_gathers_steam_asia?fp=2&fpid=1&rid=1

John