Microsoft recently announced interoperability efforts to get world of Silverlight and Java-based Eclipse to talk to each other. Considering the large number of developers using Eclipse this is a major milestone. Microsoft funded project, implemented by France based Soyatec, is an Eclipse Tools for Microsoft Silverlight plugin. Microsoft executive talked about this few days ago.
Company providing technical solution - Soyatec, maintains dedicated community site for this project. Which makes tracking Eclipse4sl vision and roadmap all the more exciting. Fact that this utility is written in Java and distributed as an Eclipse plugin is a major win.
Long term aim of the project, according to Soyatec, is
.. the creation of open source tools integrated with the Eclipse development platform that enable Java developers to use the Eclipse platform to create applications that run on the Microsoft Silverlight runtime platform. Specifically, the project will be an Eclipse plug-in that works with the Eclipse Integrated Development Environment (IDE) and Eclipse Rich Client Platform (RCP) to provide both a Silverlight development environment and greater interoperability between Silverlight and Java, to facilitate the integration of Silverlight-based applications into Java-based web sites and services. The project has been submitted to the Eclipse Foundation and released as an open Eclipse project.
The Eclipse Tools for Microsoft Silverlight Project will integrate advanced Silverlight development capabilities into the Eclipse IDE and Eclipse Rich Client Platform (RCP).
Increased Interoperability: Eclipse will contain functionality that will help Java Developers build Silverlight applications that work better with Java Web Services using REST, SOAP, JSON and other standards.
Silverlight Project System and Silverlight Compiler: Eclipse will contain both an advanced project system for creating Silverlight applications and media experiences as well as a compiler for packaging Silverlight applications for deployment.
Full compatibility with Microsoft’s Development and Design Tools: The XAML and Silverlight projects created by Eclipse will be fully supported by both Microsoft Visual Studio and Microsoft Expression Studio tools.
XAML Editor & Preview with code hinting and code completion: Eclipse will contain an advanced, standards-compliant XAML editor with code hinting and code hinting features which helps detect and correct coding errors.
You are not alone if you think there is not much help on real world Silverlight project experience. Becky Isserman was kind enough to share her experience.
Obama campaign is not just known for technology innovation and history making victory. Obama team is also continuing with amazing number of campaign innovations. Not too long ago, presidential inauguration used to be the monopoly of cables and national channels. Obama team’s creative adoption of Youtube and online tools are changing politics as we know it.
Obama campaign decided to use Silverlight technology to stream live inauguration events. Writing on PIC2009 website, Amy Hamblin mentions why this will make most open inauguration ever in the history of presidential affairs.
This will definitely be a shot in the arm for Silverlight adoption. Technology is definitely superior for video streaming and Obama’s inuaguration speech will more people download the Silverlight runtime.
Microsoft worked with iStreamPlanet to make this happen. This is a big win for Microsoft and slight setback for Adobe.
Product Description Get a jump on the next release of Silverlight with early insights from a Technical Evangelist on the Microsoft Silverlight team. This guide describes how you can simplify the development and deployment of rich interactive applications (RIAs) by using Silverlight 2 tools with Microsoft Visual Studio�® 2008 and the Microsoft .NET Framework. RIAs are Web applications with the features and functionality of full desktop applications. Processing tasks are performed on the client, but data is stored on the server. With Silverlight, RIAs install quickly via a small, on-demand plug-in. This book demonstrates how you can easily use existing skills and tools to deliver next-generation user interfaces and media experiences. You ll discover how to begin building different types of Silverlight-based solutions, generate Silverlight applications dynamically on the server, create an XAML service, and more. The book also features a companion Web site with code samples in Microsoft Visual C#�® and Visual Basic�®.
Key Book Benefits:
� Delivers practical, grounded advice from a member of the Silverlight team, including an insider s view of the evolution of this Web presentation technology � Describes how Silverlight 2 will simplify development and deployment of RIAs with the .NET Framework and Visual Studio 2008 � Provides context about the relationships among Silverlight and the various .NET Framework 3.0 and 3.5 technologies � Places RIAs in context for both Web and Windows-based developers � Features a companion Web site with code samples in Visual C# and Visual Basic
About the Author Laurence Moroney is a Technical Evangelist for Microsoft, specializing in Silverlight and the user experience. He has more than a decade of experience in software development and architecture, and has written several books on Microsoft ASP.NET, Windows Presentation Foundation, Web services security, and interoperability.
There are no reviews on Amazon. C'mon guys is it worth spending time?
Microsoft Corp. today announced that it has won a key distribution deal with HP, the world’s largest PC manufacturer, to install a Live Search-enabled toolbar on all HP consumer PCs planned to ship in the United States and Canada, beginning in January 2009. As part of this deal, the default search engine setting in the browser on all HP consumer PCs will also be set to Microsoft Live Search.
“This agreement with HP is a strategic indicator of our increased focus on securing broad-scale distribution for Live Search,” said Kevin Johnson, president of the Platforms & Services Division at Microsoft. “This is the most significant distribution deal for Live Search that Microsoft has ever done, and we are very pleased to be partnering with HP to help bring Live Search to millions of consumers across North America.”
Microsoft is building a custom, Live Search-enabled toolbar for HP customers that takes advantage of the exceptional user experience capabilities of Microsoft Silverlight. The toolbar will provide HP with customization capabilities within the buttons on the toolbar, providing quick and easy access to a variety of online services and tools, such as Snapfish by HP, the company’s online photo service, and HP customer support.
“This agreement provides HP customers with an outstanding search product in Live Search, as well as a user-friendly, fully customizable way to access their favorite online services,” said Ulf Claesson, vice president of Worldwide Attach at HP. “Microsoft shares HP’s passion for delivering world-class technology to consumers in meaningful ways, and today’s announcement will help to provide an even more personal computing experience for HP customers.”
New York Times’s new RSS Reader is built using Silverlight technology. It’s slick and works flawlessly. Reading news on Times Reader is a sheer delight.
There is plenty of instruction on FAQ page to understand how it works. This blog attachment has the Mac version of Times Reader.
From NYT FAQ page:
How do I install Times Reader for the Mac?
The Mac Times Reader installer will take about a minute to complete. The installer will direct you to a web install of Microsoft Silverlight, a required plug-in. What is Silverlight?
Double click on the Times Reader.pkg file to start the installation process.
Click the Continue and Agree buttons until you get to the Silverlight installation page. If you do not have Silverlight already installed you will be given a button to click. This will launch a browser window to the Microsoft website Silverlight installation page.
Click the install now button. The Silverlight package will be downloaded to your Downloads folder.
Double click the Silverlight-1.pkg and follow the installer instructions to install Silverlight.
You will be prompted to restart your browser to complete the Silverlight installation. Shut down your browser. The Times Reader installer will now have recognized that Silverlight is installed. Click continue and then install.
Wait for “Install Succeeded” to appear and then click close.
Why do I need to download Microsoft Silverlight?
We are using Microsoft’s Silverlight technology to render the pages on the Mac version. Silverlight includes a subset of the Windows Presentation Foundation (WPF) tools we use on the PC version. This allows us to keep the look and feel of the Mac version very close to the PC version and also allows us to reuse code across platforms. However, text flow and copy/paste are not currently supported through Silverlight yet will be soon.
Browsers have been slow in catching up with social media. Built in sharing options have been limited so far. Internet Explorer 8, which is still in beta, attempts to change that with new feature called Webslices. IE 8 site describes WebSlices in these terms -
Users commonly visit many websites several times a day to check for updates. The introduction of RSS feeds can make this experience easier for users, although RSS feeds requires a nontrivial amount of work on behalf of the developer.
WebSlices is a new feature for websites that enables users to subscribe to content directly within a webpage. WebSlices behave just like feeds in that users can subscribe to them and receive update notifications when the content changes. Websites are polled at user-defined intervals, similar to the way RSS feeds are polled. Website operators may also define a minimum wait time between polls to minimize requests.
Developers can mark parts of webpages as "WebSlices" and enable users to monitor information they rely on as they move about the web. With a click in the Favorites bar, users see rich "WebSlice" visuals and developers establish a valuable, persistent end-user connection. Get started building WebSlices at the Microsoft Developer Network.
It's bit surprising to see Facebook actually using this technology in status updates.
The following is my list of Silverlight Resources including blogs, tutorials and more. If you know of any other good ones please let me know as I will keep this list updated on a regular basis: Install The Latest Tools http://www.microsoft.com/downloads…(read more)
I was given the task of telling the story via videos posted on Channel 9. After drafting Dr. Sneath to aid with a few of the interviews and a fair bit of editing, we’ve come up with another round of WPF Week on Channel 9.Â
Please feel free to copy and past the image on your own blog.
If you haven't looked at WPF much before now is the time to do it. Granted I'm a graphics guy and this release has some major new improvements and features in that area, but overall this looks like an awesome release for WPF. Congratulations WPF team!
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