Bonum Certa Men Certa

Media Reality Check: Microsoft Silverlight a Big Programming Scam

Neither open source nor cross-platform

This post is not a rant. It is justified criticism of 'the media' which, having been fed Kool-Aid from Microsoft, flooded "open source" feeds with one of the worst poisons out there, which are not only harmful to open source but are also harmful to the future of the Web, open access (OA) included.



To paraphrase some memorable quote, "Silverlight is cancer on the Web." It is intended to restrict or altogether block access to information, discriminate to promote Microsoft's business agenda, force developers and users to purchase software from a monopolist, harm digital durability and curation (DRM, specifications), and stifle search engines too. Silverlight was already looked (still is being looked) by antitrust regulators in two continents: Europe and America. Relevant links are appended to the bottom of this post.

“Watch how they 'decorate' the uninteresting announcement of Silverlight 2 with popular terms like "open source" and "Linux".”Silverlight is a big danger, potentially bigger than OOXML and SharePoint. Who could possibly befriend such a monster and why?

It's not just Microsoft's fault. Well, the news feeds are flooded with wrong headlines and misleading messages because Microsoft did a publicity stunt abusing the term "open source" and abusing the term "cross-platform", partly thanks to help from Novell.

We shall defend this contention with evidence. Watch how they 'decorate' the uninteresting announcement of Silverlight 2 with popular terms like "open source" and "Linux". Dishonesty or lies about open source, as well as their relation to platforms, are things that we discussed before. It's developers whom they want to capture and deceive in order to spread XAML around the Web and thus gain greater control over Web content.

Here you can see Miguel de Icaza do his role pretending that Silverlight is Kool (Aid) with GNU/Linux. He'll be presenting at a Microsoft conference by the way.

In the Q&A, Tim Anderson asked about Linux support. Right now Silverlight has partial support for 1.0 (though it doesn’t include video or MP3 playback, two of the main features of Silverlight 1.0) and there is no support for 2 on Linux right now. As Tim notes, it’s misleading to tout the cross platform aspect of Silverlight without an actual release. It’s also surprising that there was absolutely nothing in terms of a roadmap for Linux. My hunch is that they wanted something to announce for PDC and this may be it. As Brian Goldfarb mentioned in the Q&A session, Miguel de Icaza, who runs the Moonlight effort, has a session at PDC although his session doesn’t say anything about Silverlight/Moonlight so I’m not sure what to make of that.


The funny thing about PDC is that the page about sponsors almost gives the effect and impression that many companies are involved. A whois lookup, however, quickly nets:

 Registrant:
        Microsoft Corporation
        Domain Administrator
        One Microsoft Way
        Redmond, WA 98052-6399
        US
        domains@microsoft.com
        001-425-8828080  Fax: 001-425-9367329



Domain Name: MICROSOFTPDC.COM Registrar of Record: Corporate Domains, Inc.

Administrative Contact: Microsoft Corporation Domain Administrator One Microsoft Way Redmond, WA 98052-6399 US domains@microsoft.com 001-425-8828080 Fax: 001-425-9367329 Technical Contact: ORCSWEB, Inc. Tech Contact 3020-I Prosperity Church Road Charlotte, NC 28269 US webteam@orcsweb.com 001-909-7153115 Fax: 000-000-0000000

Domain servers in listed order:

NS1.MSFT.NET NS5.MSFT.NET NS2.MSFT.NET NS3.MSFT.NET NS4.MSFT.NET

Created on..............: 09-Sep-03 Expires on..............: 09-Sep-10 Record last updated on..: 08-Sep-08


Anyway...

Here is a whole article which only found it interesting that Silverlight is touching 'something' called Eclipse.

This, said the company, will enable ports of Silverlight to the Macintosh and Linux platforms. In addition, Novell is working on its own Linux port.


This is deceiving. Once again there's this vague talk about a port to GNU/Linux. This is not a port. Moonlight is not a port; it's an independent poor copycat, which will never catch up. Dana Blankenhorn compared it to a "lead pony" (in a horse race).

Here is another yucky one:

Microsoft's second Silverlight courts open-source coders



Microsoft is courting open-source developers with Silverlight 2.0, as it strives for cross-platform uptake of the browser-based media plug in.


The impression one is supposed to get is that Silverlight targets an open source crowd. This is deceptive and it's unlikely to be a coincidence. Silverlight is proprietary and the article only talks about a tiny or inexistent niche for the technology.

Here is another such example:

Microsoft Shines Open Source Initiative on Silverlight



[...]

The authoring tools for Microsoft's Silverlight, the new rich-media Web plug-in, will soon be available for those working on Macs and on open source programs.


What about GNU/Linux?

Some people still fail to understand the point about Novell striving to make Microsoft's .NET some sort of de facto 'standard'. Miguel de Icaza already storms a page to defend himself in the following post that contain this:

Having Silverlight used on such a massive event like the Olympics also helps MS help to convince people who switched to Macs that they are on the wrong platform. After all, all they have to do is release a new version of Silverlight and not release it to the Macs on the same day. Bam, people start jonesing for Windows again.


This type of problem is only to be expected. Moreover, it's all about DRM, money, and PR.

Microsoft announces the availability of Silverlight 2 with new features including DRM and enhanced advertising support. Microsoft also announces funding for an open-source project to create an Eclipse plug-in for Silverlight.


And there are many more examples of this distraction and open source detour:

In an attempt to bring more non-Microsoft and open source developers into the fold, Microsoft announced that it would be funding the development of Silverlight-related capability in the Eclipse Foundation's open source development environment, not only Microsoft's Visual Studio.


At all costs, Microsoft is hoping to spread this proprietary XAML disease across the Web, along with the Mono disease (did anyone know there is a novell [sic] called Momo?).

To summarise, Silverlight is a wolf in sheep's clothing. Discourage Webmasters who make use of Silverlight and discourage those who accept the content or download appropriate plug-ins, of which there are none for GNU/Linux. Microsoft used Novell as its excuse for ignoring GNU/Linux as a target platform, despite (or because) it being Microsoft's #1 rival.

Silverlight toilet

Related reading (internal):



Related reading (external):

Comments

Recent Techrights' Posts

Microsoft XBox is Dying as More Retailers Stop Stocking It and Massive Layoffs Planned Again
Microsoft is circling down the drain
Linux and the Freedom Paradox
Linux is losing freedom if some external actors who only use Microsoft tools for development wrest control
Watch the FSF Party Live (via Livestream)
It's in WebM format, which is widely supported by now
Advocacy of Software Freedom Changed, LUGs Became Less Relevant
The way we see it, support groups like LUGs sort of outlived their usefulness when it became easier to install GNU/Linux
 
Links 05/10/2025: Slow News Day and Wondering About the Canada Post Walkout
Links for the day
Gemini Links 05/10/2025: Telnet Debugging and The Programmer’s Brain
Links for the day
More Than "Just a Rumour": XBox Seems to Have Just Died
At this point, why would any studio out there target or partner with XBox?
How to Tell Your Community, Project or Company is Being Infiltrated by Saboteurs
How to identify nefarious social engineering
The Fortieth Birthday of the FSF Made Us Extremely Happy
It feels like the 'hacker community' is regrouping to discuss things and prepare for the next Big Challenge
Chat Control 2 Them, Not 2 U
Follow the advice of Dr. Patrick Breyer
Mozilla: Throw Away Your "Old" PC and Enable "Digital Rights Management (DRM)"
This is heading in a bad direction
Controlling Our Computing for Another Forty Years
40 years of freedom
Motivational Small Place to Run Large Sites
We deem this scenery motivational and inspiring
Techrights' Text Version (Daily Bulletin) Turns Five This Month
our plain-text bulletins are turning 5 this month
We'll Continue Covering the Moribund OSI and Other Dysfunctional if Not Hostile Institutions
Stefano Maffulli's departure is due to his defection and due to him failing the mission in pursuit of money (his salary)
Links 05/10/2025: Lufthansa Layoffs (4,000) and More Spotify Woes (Aside From Massive Debt)
Links for the day
The Free Software Foundation's Livestream Has Ended, Video/s Might be Online Next
I've asked whether they'll upload video of some of the event; I still wait for an answer
The Register MS Does Not Know the Difference Between Microsoft GitHub and GitLab
At the time of writing (October 5) the article from "Thu 2 Oct 2025" remains uncorrected
"Bullshit Generators" (What RMS Calls LLMs) and Fake Images Already Target the FSF
Why does Google News promote fake articles about the FSF while omitting all the real ones?
Software Patents as a Bubble
Don't invest resources in hype; if you detect a bubble, run away from it
Links 05/10/2025: Political Leftovers, Climate Change, and Security Incidents
Links for the day
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Saturday, October 04, 2025
IRC logs for Saturday, October 04, 2025
For the Second Time in a Few Weeks Microsoft Lunduke Makes False Accusations Against Senior Red Hat Staff to Incite a Despicable 'Troll Army'
Nothing that Microsoft Lunduke claims or says can be trusted
When Microsoft "Integrates" Something With "AI" It Means It's Losing Money and Is Generally Hopeless
how did Bing fare after 36 months of LLM slop being hyped up as "replacement" for search?
Most Certificates Don't Improve Security, They Mostly Increase Downtime (for No Good Reason)
The 'Gemini sites' (capsules) are a growing force
The statCounter Site Has Data Integrity Problems
Maybe we'll get back to statCounter when its data becomes more "stable" again
10 Ways to Combat Software Patents
software patents are loathed also by proprietary software developers
"Just a Little Bit of Meat..."
Free software "absolutism" is not a radical stance, more so if the only "radical" belief the user possesses is that he or she must be in control of his or her software, and by extension his or her computer
Compromised by NVIDIA Proprietary Library
Meanwhile in Boston there are "[r]oundtable talk with FSF volunteers (both in-person and online)"
Red Hat is Ignoring the Free Software Community, It's a "Fortune 1000" Vendor
Red Hat's blog also participates a lot in promoting of Wall Street's latest pump-and-dump "AI" scheme
Free Software Foundation Party Has Begun
We shall be focusing a lot on software patents today
Former Head of the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) Lina Khan Knows Whatever Microsoft Touches Will Die
Just like Skype (as recently as months ago) [...] When Microsoft grabs things, or when it buys things, it almost never ends well
Slopwatch: Fake Articles About LibreOffice in Austria and Wine 10.16
very short
Links 04/10/2025: "attempted Coup" Noted in Facebook, Russia Kills Journalists via Drones
Links for the day
Gemini Links 04/10/2025: Anesthesia and Baudpunk
Links for the day
How Software Patents Were Viewed or Their General Status Changed Over Time
A rough summary
Links 04/10/2025: "Privacy Harm Is Harm", Criticism Outlawed in US
Links for the day
Garmin Uses Linux for Some of the Garmin Products, Now It's Sued by Strava Using Software Patents
Software patents should never have been granted in the first place
Richard Stallman Will Give a Talk in Sweden in 6 Days
Dr. Stallman, despite his battle with cancer is still alive and mentally sharp
FSF Turns 40
We'll be focusing on patent-related topics this weekend
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Friday, October 03, 2025
IRC logs for Friday, October 03, 2025
Gemini Links 04/10/2025: Distro Hopping and "Part Time"
Links for the day
We Are Turning 19 in One Month, FSF Turns 40 in 3 Hours (CET)
For our anniversary next month we still have no concrete plans
Patent Docs (or PatentDocs) Learned the Wrong Lessons From the Death of TypePad
Had they gone ahead with an SSG, they'd become a lot more future-proof
USPTO Patent Bubble Already Imploding, After Decades of Artificial Inflation, Entire Offices Close for Good
we can deduce that financial pressures (lack of "demand" for monopolies) play a role
TikTok is Not Harmless (Being CheeTok in the US Will Advance Orange Agenda)
Social control media isn't "fun and games"; it's a digital weapon that lets hostile groups or nations infiltrate others, then turn them against themselves
Andy Farnell and Helen Plews Explain What "Modern" Tech Does to Old People
Imposing terrible tech "religion" on people is not helping them
Tomorrow the Free Software Foundation (FSF) Turns 40 and Its Web Site is Still Slow Due to DDoS by LLM Slop Bots
For an advocacy group, uptime is important (for its message to remain accessible)
Slopwatch: Google News as a Firehose of LLM Slop About "Linux"
Google News is really bad
Datamation, Where I Used to Publish Articles, Appears to Have Been Sold to TechnologyAdvice Only to Become a Slopfarm
I'd prefer to not associate with that site anymore
Links 03/10/2025: "NPR’s Economics Lessons Come With Neoliberal Spin" and Canada Post at Risk
Links for the day
Gemini Links 03/10/2025: Panic Attacks and Food Adulteration
Links for the day
Links 03/10/2025: Lawyers Caught Using LLM Slop Explain Why They Did It, LibreSSL 4.1.1 and 4.0.1 Released
Links for the day
FSF Board Grew 50% Since Last Year, Has New President, Turns 40 in Two Days
It's a good move for the FSF and - by extension - for software freedom
Links 03/10/2025: Conflicts, Death of TypePad, and TikTok/CheeTok Gives a Boost to Far Right Groups in Europe
Links for the day
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Thursday, October 02, 2025
IRC logs for Thursday, October 02, 2025
Slopwatch: Linux Journal, Google News, and LinuxSecurity
They carry on polluting the Web with fake articles
Gemini Links 02/10/2025: Kubernetes With FreeBSD and robots.txt
Links for the day