Why Silverlight will be pervasive

7/6/2008

One of the most common questions I am asked about Silverlight is about the end user requirements to install Silverlight. However this will not be an issue, and here are the reasons why.

Windows Media Player

WMP videos while not as widely used as Flash video, is still very common. Windows Media Player however is a bit heavy and does not always provide the best user experience. Because of this, many major websites including broadcast networks are changing over to Silverlight from Windows Media Player since Silverlight 1.0 can play WMV content.

Windows Update

Windows update already has a separate Silverlight section. Users who have already installed Silverlight 1.0 will likely be automatically offered an upgrade to 2.0, and users without Silverlight will likely see it as an optional component.

It's Microsoft

If an end user goes to a web site and sees "This website requires plugin superX from Joe's software", most users will not install it. However when prompted for a plugin from Microsoft most users will simply install it.

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