Perhaps before bashing the product, the author could actually learn what IT IS!

Silverlight is NOT a video codec, nor is it strictly a way for streaming video. It is an embedded, GPU-accelerated .NET runtime in the browser.

For video purposes, it uses standard MPEG4/H.264 or VC-1 at up to HD resolutions. And it offers intelligent streaming, dynamic video bitrates, etc.

It is actually an excellent product compared to Flash considering it's age and how far it's come in a short amount of time.

Flash is terrible in Linux, and Moonlight works quite well. I just hope that the new version of Silverlight will be available in Linux.

I am still not ready to dump my Athlon-based computer, and when I tried to install the Silverlight decoder I got the message "Sorry, can't do - you don't have the required SSE support".

I would expect a major playback slowdown on my older computer, which I don't mind, but not an outright rejection..

Back to flash.

Netflix also uses Silverlight for it's instant watch movies. I must say that I'm impressed - quality is pretty good with very few drops. I only have to make sure that I have about 15 kbps upload available in order to avoid buffering delays. I also like how Netflix gives you frames images if you manual fast-forward or rewind (by sliding the position bar). I don't know if the ffw/rewind features are Netflix specific or a Silverlight feature...

Silverlight updates itself in a timely manner unlike Adobe flashsploit. Silverlight does a far better job with HD video compared to flash.

"Silverlight works on PCs and the expensive PC clone, the Apple Mac."

Nick 2
Apple 0