Microsoft’s Silverlight and True Cross-Platform Compatibility
Thursday, May 3rd, 2007
Much has been made this week of Microsoft’s announced “Flash-killer” browser plug-in and development platform, Silverlight. To quote Redmond, “Silverlight is a cross-browser, cross-platform plug-in for delivering the next generation of Microsoft .NET–based media experiences and rich interactive applications for the Web.”
Their early demos look impressive, and most interestingly, heavily promote the software’s cross-platform compatibility. Unlike previous Microsoft efforts (Windows Media Player, I’m talking about you), Silverlight is (purportedly) designed to run seamlessly on the Mac’s Safari and Firefox browsers (not just Windows platforms). TechCrunch’s Nik Cubrilovic provides an excellent overview.
While that all sounds well and good, real world performance may in fact be another matter. ClickZ News documents their attempts to get the plug-in successfully installed on a number of their Macs, with little luck and also reported that Microsoft’s WMV demo video wouldn’t even play in Windows Media Player for Mac (they had to revert to the excellent open-source program VLC to get the demo to play). Conversely, we were able to install Silverlight and play a range of demo content without issue on one of our Intel-based Mac’s here in the office.
Some major media players (including CBS, Netflix and Major League Baseball) have already signed onto the new platform. It’ll be interesting to see how Silverlight’s market penetration spreads in the coming months, as compatible content begins to appear, as well as what effect, if any, it ultimately on Adobe’s Flash.
Digg Users Revolt
Tuesday, May 1st, 2007
There’s been an incredible user revolt unfolding at Digg.com today. The whole mess started around the issue of a cracked HD-DVD encryption key (which is a necessary component for copying HD-DVDs) which was linked via Digg from a number of websites.
Digg, along with a number of other major sites (including Wikipedia, Google and others) were threatened with a cease and desist order to remove the offending code from their sites. While other social news sites, including Slashdot and Reddit, did not comply, Digg not only began removing posts and comments referencing the encryption key, but also soon began deleting the accounts of users that had posted the code.
For those unfamiliar with Digg, it’s essentially a socially-driven news site, where members submit links to Digg, which are then dugg up (voted for by other users) or dugg down (voted down or rejected by the users). The most popular items make it to the Digg homepage and generate a ton of hits for many websites, if a particular site ends up linked via a story on Digg.
In their own words, “Digg is a digital media democracy. As a user, you participate in determining all site content by discovering, selecting, sharing, and discussing the news, videos, and podcasts that appeal to you.”
Unfortunately for Digg, their users have taken their democratic right to protest and, for all intents and purposes, brought down the site tonight (or at least overrun it). Responding with anger, frustration and cries of “censorship” over 1) Digg’s bowing to the pressure of the HD-DVD camp, while other sites did not; 2) deleting user accounts; and 3) evidence that HD-DVD has sponsored Digg’s wildly popular Diggnation podcast, the user base began posting hundreds of stories about the encryption code, with thousands of users digging them until the entire homepage of the site was overtaken. As of this evening, the entire “Top 10 in All Topics” and every newly popular item shown on the Digg homepage was related to the Digg/HD-DVD controversy.
It will be particularly interesting to see how this plays out in the coming days. I’d imagine there will be at least a small minority of voices that say this was really simply a case of ‘cyber-vandalism by a bunch users with nothing better to do’, but they’d be wrong. This was really the first example, at least on this large of a scale, of a truly grass-roots cyber-protest. Chances are, it won’t be the last. When sites such as Digg, which is entirely dependent on user-submitted and user-created content for its very existence, take action that alienates that user base, they may well be in for a ride they weren’t expecting.