Adobe vs Microsoft - Video and RIA
Filed Under [Design Issues, Web Design]It looks like Adobe and Microsoft are once again going to lock horns in the race to provide an application capable of keeping up with the Web 2.0 movement.
Adobe has had the market won with Flash for years now. Flash is the default player for video and animation streaming online, and since it has never has a real competitor it has trundled along nicely even though it has various compatibility issues.
But now Microsoft are looking to grab an opening in the market with video streaming becoming a “normal” request for inclusion on a website - by creating a cross browser compatible video stream application whcih is as easy as click and your done. The program, part of Microsoft Expression Studio, is called Blend and uses a new language - XAML. This is eXtensible Application Markup Language and is used to create Rich Internet Application interfaces. Blend is just a start though. In the pipeline is a much bigger and more powerful tool called Silverlight.
Silverlight is completely cross platform including a Mac version and handles many more file formats than Flash Player. It allows seamless integration of rich media into websites, no longer is the rich media a seperate layer to the web page thanks to the xhtml/xaml compatibility, this is fantastic news for web designers providing slimmer and more manageable code. This tool is not only useful in the familiar territory of a web browser but can also be used to integrate rich media desktop applications. So if you’ve ever fancied trying your hand at desktop development now may be the ideal time.
Why is this needed? We have Flash and we’ve used it for years without a problem - in fact its improved dramtically over the past few years, so why do we need to have a new tool. Well, this time next year it will be expected that video or rich media is added into a web design contract, it becoming extremely popular with the uprising of sites like YouTube and Google Videos that everyone wants something similar to aid the user experience. And any tool that will make it easier and more compliant will be welcome.
However, Adobe is not bowing down to Microsoft - they too have Flex Builder released and upgrades are currently being worked on to battle Microsoft for the Web 2.0 crown. We could see a huge change in the applications we use in the next year or so.
Let the battle commence…
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