Microsoft faces backlash after Silverlight comments


2 Nov 2010

Microsoft is attempting to reduce the backlash from programmers after it downplayed Silverlight at a developers conference and said it would focus on HTML5.

In a recent interview at the Professional Developer’s Conference, Bob Muglia, Microsoft’s head of servers and tools division, said it would shift its strategy on Silverlight, saying that while it was to be used for development on Windows Phone 7,  HTML was “the only true cross platform solution for everything.”

This caused an outcry on the net from programmers, with some saying that HTML5 is not ready yet. Others feel they had wasted their time learning to use Silverlight.

Muglia then posted clarification of this in his blog, saying that, thanks to devices such as e-readers and smartphones, it was impossible to get Silverlight running on them all.

Commenting on his statement in regards to their shifting strategy for Silverlight, he said it was not a “negative statement” but instead, it was “a comment on how the industry has changed and how we’re adapting our Silverlight strategy to take advantage of that.”

Muglia stated that they will continue to invest in Silverlight in the future.

Developers are still calling for further clarification of Microsoft’s ongoing strategy for Silverlight, in order to plan their own future with the technology.