The empires of the future are the empires of the mind - Winston Churchill
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Microsoft drops support for plugins in its Windows 8 Metro browser
SOFTWARE DEVELOPER Microsoft has dumped support for third party web browser plugins in its Metro user interface.
Microsoft is keen to streamline web browsing in its Metro user interface - the one that is being shown off on tablets - and first for the chop are third party plugins. Microsoft Windows VP Steven Sinofsky and colleague Dean Hachamovitch, leader of Microsoft's Internet Explorer team, waxed lyrical about HTML5 and the death of third party plugins.
Hachamovitch talked about a "Metro style browser" that is "as HTML5-only as possible, and plugin free". He went further in lambasting plugins by saying, "The experience that plug-ins provide today is not a good match with Metro style browsing and the modern HTML5 web."
There's not much wrong with Hachamovitch's comments, and we would certainly agree that an open standard such as HTML5 is far better than proprietary software. However what's interesting is that by banishing plugins on its Metro browser, Microsoft is in effect kicking its own Silverlight technology to the kerb.
Adobe has realised that its Flash software is not long for the web browsing world either and has worked on pushing Air and is even producing HTML5 authoring tools that it claims bring Flash-like animations to HTML5. While Adobe might have been able to live with Apple dumping Flash support in IOS, Microsoft limiting it to the traditional desktop browser is a far bigger blow.
Microsoft will still support third party plugins in its traditional desktop Internet Explorer 10 web browser. However, while Microsoft should be applauded for opting for HTML5 support rather than relying on Activex, Flash and Silverlight, it needs to provide users with support for legacy web applications.
With Microsoft clearly adopting HTML5, it looks like Adobe and other plugin developers will finally have to adopt open standards rather than push their own agendas. µ
Tags: Microsoft
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You have a point that they 'need' DRM and therefore silverlight, unless.. they implemented the DRM deeper in the TCP stack.
On phones they very radio chipset now has freaking DRM crap ruining your privacy, and intel added hardware-DRM to their later CPU's and made deals with streaming outfits, so I would not be surprised MS tried to pull a trick like that and make the DRM low-level on w8.
In light of that I'll hold off on w8 until somebody finds out the truth.
So it is indeed a good point you raised
I'm sure they left support in there for silverlight, or they incorporated it at some other level. It's still silverlight. Without it no Netflix in Win8.
And besides, no one needs Win8 and no one is going to use Win8 with big touch screen monitors. That's just silly. It's tough holding your arm up to touch things, and besides, the screen will become all grimy.
Microsoft is just lost.
Can anyone tell me honestly that their Win7 is insufficient for what they do now? For even what they can perceive doing in the next 10 years?
Get a new CEO Microsoft!
So where does firefox run on w8? in desktop mode I assume right now right?
But I guess they might adapt it to run in the metro nonsense but then the plugins for it will have to work, so I wonder how locked down and separated that metro environment is, is it completely separate like 64bit on older windows where you need separate everything? And will adobe then release a metro flash plugin too eventually?
As for silverlight, yeah they already said they were moving away from that earlier, probably because only MS people code for it and nobody else is.
WHAT IS METRO BROWSER ANYWAY, IS THAT LIKE SAFERI OR SOMETHING?
I don't believe most nonsense arguments against Flash. About power consuming I think seeing movie on a mobile device is more power consuming than swf flash playing, they should then block movie playing capability on mobile devices . I think both Steves want to delimit the success of flash. even if microsft disallow Flash in their IE 0xa , other companys might bring their browser to Metro interface with embedded Flash like google chrome. In any case I hate IE and don't use it at all on my W7. I just use chrome and satisfy with. MS should allow Flash on the tablet version of W8 if they really wants to compete Android. They have to ask themselves Why the Android user should migrate to W8 devices if he will lose one significant benefits of Android which supporting to Flash? I'm not Anti-microsoft but I don't want others to determine our freedom to choose what they want not what we like on our mobile devices. They can force any plugin installation to be interactive and not automatically. they can also notify the user that Flash is a power hungry before clicking accept to install it, but not preventing us from this installation. They will give a good motivation for hackers to jail breaking or patching windows 8 itself.
I don't see how Flash will fit into an HTML 5 world. It slows down browers, creates a security risk, and drains battery. I vote it should just be left to die.
POLL: Should Adobe Flash die?
Vote: http://www.wepolls.com/p/2620227
To the extent that application providers adopt HTML5, especially for small form factor devices, the advantage that iOS enjoys from a robust app store is greatly diminished. Windows Phone 7 would suddenly have access to the same apps as everyone else, were they only delivered in HTML5.