Silverlight deployment
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Anyone here using Silverlight ? What sort of issues do you face with deployment ? I mean, is it a barrier to entry ? We're looking at doing something that mom and pop users would be using, not high tech folks.
Christian Graus Driven to the arms of OSX by Vista. Read my blog to find out how I've worked around bugs in Microsoft tools and frameworks.
I do believe for the time being Silverlight is still a barrier to entry by anybody, technical or not. However, since Silverlight is bundled in Live Messenger and IE8 this may not be the case for long. I have developed using Silverlight and aside from the glaring bugs (in 2.0, which they fixed in 3.0) there were no big issues. At the moment we only use it for internal projects as we control what gets installed in users PC/laptops. Regards, Ed
"A democracy is nothing more than mob rule, where fifty-one percent of the people may take away the rights of the other forty-nine." - Thomas Jefferson "Democracy is two wolves and a lamb voting on what to have for lunch. Liberty is a well-armed lamb contesting the vote." - Benjamin Franklin Edbert Sydney, Australia
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I do believe for the time being Silverlight is still a barrier to entry by anybody, technical or not. However, since Silverlight is bundled in Live Messenger and IE8 this may not be the case for long. I have developed using Silverlight and aside from the glaring bugs (in 2.0, which they fixed in 3.0) there were no big issues. At the moment we only use it for internal projects as we control what gets installed in users PC/laptops. Regards, Ed
"A democracy is nothing more than mob rule, where fifty-one percent of the people may take away the rights of the other forty-nine." - Thomas Jefferson "Democracy is two wolves and a lamb voting on what to have for lunch. Liberty is a well-armed lamb contesting the vote." - Benjamin Franklin Edbert Sydney, Australia
It's a big download still ? This is for users in the US mostly.
Christian Graus Driven to the arms of OSX by Vista. Read my blog to find out how I've worked around bugs in Microsoft tools and frameworks.
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Anyone here using Silverlight ? What sort of issues do you face with deployment ? I mean, is it a barrier to entry ? We're looking at doing something that mom and pop users would be using, not high tech folks.
Christian Graus Driven to the arms of OSX by Vista. Read my blog to find out how I've worked around bugs in Microsoft tools and frameworks.
Research on everything ever said about Java Applets - the issues will be exactly the same, differences may be only in specific numbers - plus, of cause, you will have platform and (some) browser dependency :)
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Anyone here using Silverlight ? What sort of issues do you face with deployment ? I mean, is it a barrier to entry ? We're looking at doing something that mom and pop users would be using, not high tech folks.
Christian Graus Driven to the arms of OSX by Vista. Read my blog to find out how I've worked around bugs in Microsoft tools and frameworks.
Yeah, using Silverlight, for internal stuff we use WSUS to roll it out, for web site it's a nightmare for uses to go through the install hoops, why can't it install like Adobe Flash? Something I hope Microsoft work on for 2010. If not they can contract me to get the job done right!
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It's a big download still ? This is for users in the US mostly.
Christian Graus Driven to the arms of OSX by Vista. Read my blog to find out how I've worked around bugs in Microsoft tools and frameworks.
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Working great for me so far. Only issue for me is updating... The user caches it locally, so if you release an updated version, they won't necessarily download it. Workarounds include a stub loader, or changing the filename each time.
Proud to have finally moved to the A-Ark. Which one are you in? Author of Guardians of Xen (Sci-Fi/Fantasy novel)
I had this problem when using flash. I got around it not by changing the file name but by adding a constantly changing variable on the end of the filename eg:
myfile.swf?i=<?=unixtime();?>
So you can keep the same filename and only code it once. I thought you might be able to do the same. Then again I've not used silverlight a lot so I'm not sure how it loads.
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Anyone here using Silverlight ? What sort of issues do you face with deployment ? I mean, is it a barrier to entry ? We're looking at doing something that mom and pop users would be using, not high tech folks.
Christian Graus Driven to the arms of OSX by Vista. Read my blog to find out how I've worked around bugs in Microsoft tools and frameworks.
No. -I browsed to a web page that needed Silverlight . -It said "you need Silverlight - click here." -I clicked there. -It said "Get lost you loser, silver light is not supported on your system, we aren't going to play with you." [Kbuntu] I know there is moonlight, but I want things to happen automatically. I'm lazy[^]. So before you start, think about all those mom and pop, low tech users on linux that you need to support.....hmm.
Simon
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Only works in FF though, doesn't play well with Chrome. Another remaining question is whether an application built on Moonlight would work without modifications on Silverlight, as it seems to have some dependencies to GTK. --edit-- A small mile away from the original question. I guess that Silverlight "just works", as long as you're on a post-W2k platform without too many internet-restrictions.
World of Warcraft is Linux-compatible :suss:
Eddy Vluggen wrote:
Only works in FF though, doesn't play well with Chrome
Silverlight 3 unofficially support Chrome.Silverlight 4 supports Chrome officially.
Thanks and Regards, Michael Sync ( Blog: http://michaelsync.net) Microsoft MVP (Silverlight), WPF/Silverlight Insiders
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Christian Graus wrote:
is it a barrier to entry ?
I would think it's more likely to be a barrier for a more technical audience. I don't install anything that runs within a browser. In my experience (and, apparently, in the experience of malware authors), less technical users install anything you ask them to, if it gets rid of that annoying popup that's covering the video of the cure kitten they want to see.
Electron Shepherd wrote:
I don't install anything that runs within a browser.
:) I have Flash, Silverlight, Adobe Plugin and Firebug in my FF.
Thanks and Regards, Michael Sync ( Blog: http://michaelsync.net) Microsoft MVP (Silverlight), WPF/Silverlight Insiders
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Research on everything ever said about Java Applets - the issues will be exactly the same, differences may be only in specific numbers - plus, of cause, you will have platform and (some) browser dependency :)
I dont think Java Applet and Silverlight are having same issues. Could you please share me those issues? I'm very interested to know about them. Thanks.
Thanks and Regards, Michael Sync ( Blog: http://michaelsync.net) Microsoft MVP (Silverlight), WPF/Silverlight Insiders
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Yeah, using Silverlight, for internal stuff we use WSUS to roll it out, for web site it's a nightmare for uses to go through the install hoops, why can't it install like Adobe Flash? Something I hope Microsoft work on for 2010. If not they can contract me to get the job done right!
Norm .net wrote:
why can't it install like Adobe Flash?
You should be able to install Silverlight just like Adobe Flash. What problems did you face?
Thanks and Regards, Michael Sync ( Blog: http://michaelsync.net) Microsoft MVP (Silverlight), WPF/Silverlight Insiders
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Norm .net wrote:
why can't it install like Adobe Flash?
You should be able to install Silverlight just like Adobe Flash. What problems did you face?
Thanks and Regards, Michael Sync ( Blog: http://michaelsync.net) Microsoft MVP (Silverlight), WPF/Silverlight Insiders
You're kidding right? Firstly you get thrown to a semi-blank screen asking you to install silverlight, then you get an installing dialog (btw you require admistrative priviledges to install), next you're asked to restart the browser :wtf: Flash throws a single warning for activex install - the rest is painless.
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Anyone here using Silverlight ? What sort of issues do you face with deployment ? I mean, is it a barrier to entry ? We're looking at doing something that mom and pop users would be using, not high tech folks.
Christian Graus Driven to the arms of OSX by Vista. Read my blog to find out how I've worked around bugs in Microsoft tools and frameworks.
My parents are probably pretty typical of the kind of users you'll be getting although my mother used to teach word / excel / access so has a bit of a clue. Even downloading flash would be a barrier to them going to a site as they know to not install anything they don't recognise at the request of a webpage. If they really wanted to go to a site they'd probably call me and get me to see what was wrong with it but they would only do that if it was a site they really wanted to use. I haven't yet installed silverlight on my work PC because I've only ever seen it on MSDN and if I've become so desperate that I'm resorting to MSDN then I'm certainly not going to spend time installing something that is probably going to hose my system.
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I had this problem when using flash. I got around it not by changing the file name but by adding a constantly changing variable on the end of the filename eg:
myfile.swf?i=<?=unixtime();?>
So you can keep the same filename and only code it once. I thought you might be able to do the same. Then again I've not used silverlight a lot so I'm not sure how it loads.
That's inefficient though - The cache won't be used at all. So, even if you don't change the file, it'll still be loaded from your server. A better idea is to put
myfile.swf?v=1
And then just increment the number every time you make a change :) If you have a deployment script and are using a version control system (like SVN), you could add something to that to insert the SVN revision when you deploy. :) Daniel15 :)
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That's inefficient though - The cache won't be used at all. So, even if you don't change the file, it'll still be loaded from your server. A better idea is to put
myfile.swf?v=1
And then just increment the number every time you make a change :) If you have a deployment script and are using a version control system (like SVN), you could add something to that to insert the SVN revision when you deploy. :) Daniel15 :)
Yeah, I've used that too. Nice to know about the SVN though. It's not something I've looked at in too much detail, but it's something I plan on looking at as my web team grows. Normal Backups are starting to get a bit silly...
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You're kidding right? Firstly you get thrown to a semi-blank screen asking you to install silverlight, then you get an installing dialog (btw you require admistrative priviledges to install), next you're asked to restart the browser :wtf: Flash throws a single warning for activex install - the rest is painless.
Is that not pretty much the same? Flash gives you a message to update your flash player. You have to go to a page where you have to remember to uncheck the google toolbar option (oh and click your blue bar if you're using IE). Then you have an activeX install warning. Then it's done. I'd say both are relatively painless to install. Besides, isn't silverlight already on a lot of peoples computers (Windows users) as it was on automatic updates. William
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Anyone here using Silverlight ? What sort of issues do you face with deployment ? I mean, is it a barrier to entry ? We're looking at doing something that mom and pop users would be using, not high tech folks.
Christian Graus Driven to the arms of OSX by Vista. Read my blog to find out how I've worked around bugs in Microsoft tools and frameworks.
The already implied by others, one of the problems is that people are told not to install anything that a website asks them too. I found that some people also are so used to ignoring adverts that it's difficult to make sure they know that they need to install the plugin. What I mean is that if you were to go to one of my games (eg Hi Stakes Matrix) the game is quite big (800x600). But I had one person go there who didn't have silverlight installed, realised that they couldn't see a game, but ignored the little image it puts up instead saying "install silverlight from microsoft" because they just ignored it as an advert. Then again, I think silverlight was released as an automatic update and the numbers of users who have it installed is supposed to be quite high now. William
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Is that not pretty much the same? Flash gives you a message to update your flash player. You have to go to a page where you have to remember to uncheck the google toolbar option (oh and click your blue bar if you're using IE). Then you have an activeX install warning. Then it's done. I'd say both are relatively painless to install. Besides, isn't silverlight already on a lot of peoples computers (Windows users) as it was on automatic updates. William
Look we use it on our companies web site and the amount of users (real people - not developers) that ring up asking is this safe to install is unbelievable. Most people just click on the embedded yellow bar on IE to install flash, so they're 2 different install mechanisms - trust me.
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Anyone here using Silverlight ? What sort of issues do you face with deployment ? I mean, is it a barrier to entry ? We're looking at doing something that mom and pop users would be using, not high tech folks.
Christian Graus Driven to the arms of OSX by Vista. Read my blog to find out how I've worked around bugs in Microsoft tools and frameworks.
Developing for Silverlight since Silverlight 2 and since the release of Silverlight 3 no issues at all. I think the barriers that might exist are in peoples perception rather than any technical issues and its something I've been considering of late. There are people who wont install the plugin purely and simply because its Microsoft. There are those who wont install the plugin because of security concerns although Silverlight is pretty well sandboxed. There are those who wont install the plugin as they've been told not to install anything within a browser. I do believe more and more people will have Silverlight and not be aware of it, through IE8, Live Messenger, Bing etc and if Microsoft persist with Sunday night football in the US which is being streamed via Silverlight then it will become widely installed.
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Look we use it on our companies web site and the amount of users (real people - not developers) that ring up asking is this safe to install is unbelievable. Most people just click on the embedded yellow bar on IE to install flash, so they're 2 different install mechanisms - trust me.