Microsoft: WPF/e = Silverlight

April 16, 2007 at 11:19 am · Filed under RIA, Video, User Interface, User Experience

Microsoft announced the public release name for the technology/plug-in previously known by its code name “WPF/e” (Windows Presentation Foundation Everywhere) today as “Silverlight.” Although Microsoft has preferred that the technology not be compared with Adobe’s (formerly Macromedia) ubiquitous Flash plug-in, it’s hard not to make the comparison. Both plug-ins leverage vector based graphics and scripting languages to allow the delivery of richer-than-HTML multimedia experiences, and both have a focus on the delivery of video content.

I worked at Microsoft last year for a few months prior to returning to my post at Terralever. While there, I participated in a program in which Microsoft brought in multimedia designers to put Silverlight through its paces. They were working on a version of the plug-in that was still in development and were working without documentation. Even with those limitations, the resulting demos did show promise in the hands of the highly qualified multimedia designers.

But, who would consider Silverlight over Flash? Here’s some thoughts on Silverlight:

• For designer-developers who are more fluent in JavaScript (or AJAX) Silverlight may be easier to transition to than Flash
• For RIA’s (Rich Internet Applications) that involve communication between an HTML page and multimedia content housed within it, Silverlight may prove to be a more seamless solution as the Silverlight object is a part of the DOM
• This is a v1 product for Microsoft, who usually starts firing on all cylinders around v3, and, Microsoft seem serious about its movement into this space
• Video is the hot topic on the web right now. Flash is currently able to stream a maximum of 576 lines (per Ars Technica) whereas video encoded with Microsoft’s VC-1 codec can be streamed at 720 lines. Silverlight also handles scaling video while it is being viewed beautifully.

Silverlight’s biggest hurdle? Gaining the mind share of multimedia designers—and doing so with a PC-only development ecosystem (Microsoft Expression).

The cross-browser plug-in is currently available for both Internet Explorer and Firefox on the PC as well as Safari and Firefox on the Macintosh.

Share This

Comments

On the Web: GUIdebook

March 30, 2007 at 12:47 pm · Filed under Information Architecture, On the Web, Visual Design, Applications, User Interface, User Experience

If you’re into user interface or user experience design, you’ll probably be a fan of GUIdebook. The site features screen captures of just about any operating system you can think of, timelines for releases by OS, icons, sounds (unfortunately this section covers only a few versions of Microsoft Windows and OS/2), splash screens for applications and more.

A few favorite areas on the site:

1. The visual display of how various operating systems visually executed the same interfaces (right side of page, under ‘components’).
2. Common icons as represented by different operating systems.
3. The tutorials that many operating systems provided.

Some of the GUIs represented on the site: Amiga OS, Apple II, GEOS/GeoWorks (which ran on the Commodore 64 and 128 as well as the Apple II), Lisa Office System, OS X, Windows, and Xerox Star/ViewPoint/Global View.

Share This

Comments

Vista via Parallels (without Boot Camp unfortunately)

March 30, 2007 at 8:26 am · Filed under Hardware, Applications

Well, I finally had to retreat. I needed to work in Vista, and couldn’t do without having OS X open also, so the MacBook Pro has moved back a half step for now. I decided to create a Parallels VM for Vista, and just run it that way. I didn’t want to waste the disk space on my Boot Camp partition, so I removed it entirely.

In the same boat? It’s easy to do. Here’s what I did:

1. To remove (completely) the Vista Boot Camp partition, go to:
   Applications > Utilities > Boot Camp Assistant
2. Select the “Restore Mac to a single partition” option (Note: this will erradicate the Vista Boot Camp partition entirely. If you have data you need to backup, do it before this step!)
3. The Macintosh will reboot into its only OS now… OS X
4. Launch Parallels
5. If you created any Virtual Machines that didn’t work when trying to convince Parallels to honor the Vista Boot Camp partition, remove them by going to:
   File > Delete… (in the Parallels Desktop menu)
6. Create a new Vista Parallels VM by using the OS X Installation Assistant
   File > New…

That’s it. Hopefully Parallels will support the selection of a Boot Camp partition for Vista soon.

UPDATE: I am now running a newer version of Parallels with the setup I wanted all along (read the post about that Vista Parallels setup—be sure to read the ‘UPDATE’ at the bottom).

Share This

Comments

Boot Camp + Vista + Parallels = ?

March 29, 2007 at 1:36 pm · Filed under Hardware, Applications

Well, unfortunately the super-setup (installing Windows Vista as a Boot Camp option on a Macintosh, and then also specifying it as a Parallels Desktop for Mac VM) isn’t as I had hoped. Here’s the quick version:

• OS X + Windows Vista via Boot Camp 1.2 = No Problem
• OS X + Windows Vista via Parallels (not using a Boot Camp Partition) = No Problem

Here’s where my plan fell apart:

• OS X + Windows Vista via Parallels referencing the Boot Camped Vista Partition = No dice

In fact, I can’t even get Parallels to allow me to select the Boot Comp option during setup–the option is disabled. I tried to ‘trick it’ (I won’t go into details because it doesn’t matter) into setting up the Virtual Machine, but it didn’t pan out.

There is a lot of buzz on the Parallels forums about this. Hopefully it will be worked out soon.

UPDATE: Vista Support for Parallels has arrived!

Share This

Comments

Boot Camp is Vista ready!

March 29, 2007 at 5:39 am · Filed under Hardware, Beta, Applications

Apple released an updated version of Boot Camp Public Beta yesterday (v1.2) which is Vista ready. I just blew away my MacBook Pro to create a Vista partition via Boot Camp, which I will then reference as a Parallels Desktop for Mac VM.

The setup will allow either selecting Windows Vista or OS X at startup, or booting into OS X and running Vista as a Guest OS via Parallels. I’ll post an update after the entire setup is complete!

Share This

Comments