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Implementing Silverlight in 21 Days

tirania.org — The past 21 days have been some of the most intense hacking days that I have ever had and the same goes for my team that worked 12 to 16 hours per day every single day --including weekends-- to implement Silverlight for Linux in record time. We call this effort Moonlight.

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  • baalzebub, on 10/11/2007, -50/+20no thanks, not interested in silverlight...
  • BigBadger, on 10/11/2007, -45/+12They should call it *NIGHTLIGHT*, as in, "GO TO SLEEP, MIGUEL".
  • cleverboy, on 10/11/2007, -43/+12Bleh. Why?
  • thecompkid, on 10/11/2007, -39/+14Guinness book of world records: biggest waste of time ever

    Congratulations.
    • thecompkid, on 10/11/2007, -21/+7...and digg clocks in as the biggest collective waste of time ever.

      Sorry, had to be said.
  • waterboy251, on 10/11/2007, -39/+15This article was horrible. They need to explain what the hell this program is in the very beginning!!
    • Snoopsor, on 10/11/2007, -19/+11It's not an article, it's a blog post, which puts it just above a brainfart. Don't expect much. This is news intended for developers, which is why they didn't go into detail in what silverlight was. I'm pretty amazed they have silverlight working on linux already, and in a way has instantly made me more interested in it. Now MS release it for windows and os x, plus the mono guys with their linux implementation.

      My hat is off to the dedicated bunch who did this. If anything it'll be useful to see how it communicates with the browser, and different ways to embed content. Plus it's always nice to see some competition to adobe's flash which dominates rich web content.
      • MutantFruit, on 10/11/2007, -0/+0Amazingly enough, googletron is very useful for finding out stuff! Anyone who expects that every blog post should have an indepth introduction at the start is an idiot. Plain and simple. If you dont know what silverlight is, google will tell you.

        For those of you who find getting good results out of google hard, try clicking this:
        http://www.google.co.uk/search?q=silverlight
  • kettlechips, on 10/11/2007, -25/+12Moonlight can be released on every platform, heck it can one day replace both Silverlight and Flash.

    I can hope.
  • fr0z3nph03n1x, on 10/11/2007, -22/+7I don't believe those hours for a second.
    • MutantFruit, on 10/11/2007, -0/+0What would you believe? That moonlight was implemented in 6 hour days? 24 hour days? Over a 5 month period?

      Of course, if you really don't believe it, just check out the SVN commit logs and organise them by developer. You should easily be able to work out a pattern and figure out how many hours, and what hours, each developer was working based on the commit timestamps.
  • kris33, on 10/11/2007, -25/+9Great effort, even though I doom Silverlight to hell. Hope this project will at least make Silverlight a little bit more open than it is.
  • binorgog, on 08/07/2008, -26/+3MATT DAEMON !!!!
  • combustion8, on 10/11/2007, -26/+7silverbomb is more like it... too little too late.
  • joe90210, on 10/11/2007, -22/+15I can't wait till Silverlight takes over, no more Flash + Actionscript. We need real power. Silverlight + IronPython here I come!
  • locnguyen, on 10/11/2007, -22/+9Wow there's no love for the Microsoft collective here. You can always develop with Flex instead: http://www.flex.org I've been using it with Java and Ruby on Rails.
    • modelcadet, on 10/11/2007, -13/+7Yeah, I'm trying to decide which side to take for my future development... Silverlight or flex/apollo. Both have closed aspects and google's talking smack about blowing them both away. anyway, a more open silverlight is a good thing, because that'll push other developer tools to be more open as well.
    • locnguyen, on 10/11/2007, -12/+8@modelcadet

      I don't know what platform you're developing for, but Java also has JavaFX. Flex was recently open sourced by Adobe under the Mozilla Public License and you can read about it here: http://labs.adobe.com/wiki/index.php/Flex_Open_Source_FAQ.

      It's been pretty easy to learn so far and ActionScript 3.0's syntax is familiar to Java developers. Lastly, because it uses Flash you can expect it to work on other platforms and not just Windows.
      • modelcadet, on 10/11/2007, -4/+2 I love that you got dugg down. Your comment was incredibly helpful.
  • duhblow7, on 10/11/2007, -17/+80DIGG DOWN PARTY?
    • stalefries, on 10/11/2007, -21/+5I love parties!
    • locnguyen, on 10/11/2007, -19/+6Yes it is. We are Borg. Resistance is futile.

      Miguel and co. must be burying comments that don't stroke their egos and give praise to Steve Balmer lol
    • CanceledCzech, on 10/11/2007, -20/+4You will be assimilated.
    • gavintlgold, on 10/11/2007, -1/+6Ok, everyone except you has been dugg down... why? And if no one likes the subject, why has it been dugg?
  • thefreshbeats, on 10/11/2007, -25/+11I love it when Microsoft kills the entire competition with expensive advertising and crappy products. How much does guerilla advertising cost nowadays? An entire dev team for 21 days?
  • CanceledCzech, on 10/11/2007, -23/+7No one cares about Silverlight, this is now a digg down session.
  • mattmcm, on 10/11/2007, -20/+6I CAN HAS DIGG DOWN?
  • thefreshbeats, on 10/11/2007, -21/+10DIGG would be incredible on Silverlight. Incredibly retarded. Ha
  • JasonCox, on 10/11/2007, -18/+13Thats awesome news. Hell, I'm a Microsoft fanboy (bet you couldnt tell by the avatar) but it's great to hear that Silverlight will be ported to Linux, it'll be nice to give Flash some competition, maybe it'll encourage Adobe to get off their ass and actually make it do more with less bloat.
  • TypeEE, on 10/11/2007, -13/+4I thought people would avoid microsoft stuffs in Linux.
  • EbilPhish, on 10/11/2007, -14/+9Good to know its available if its needed, although hopefully Silver light will flop horribly.

    There still the issue of Patents on Silverflash, and MS will keep adding to it generally meaning that the Linux version will need to be out of date to some extent and not %100 compatible. Then there will probably be heaps of Windows specific options, such as built in .doc files, data read directly from excel files, or DRM for media.

    Adobe really need to Open Source the Flash client, its insane that they haven't already it must be loaded down with heaps of proprietary code. Unfortunately Flash will die fairly quickly when Silverflash is on all copies of Windows, fortunately it arrived after Vista so there will be a few years yet, unless MS adds it in a Service Pack or through autoupdate. Its possible that the anti-trust stuff will keep them from adding it by default. Maybe IE will automagically If it becomes easier than Flash to get it will probably take over fairly fast.
  • Razster, on 10/11/2007, -13/+2Dugg it because I will be headed to Silicon Valley to reMIX ;)
    Should help me out a bit when I listen to the lecturers
  • baalzebub, on 10/11/2007, -12/+4i don't entirely trust Adobe's flash plugin, why would i trust silverlight?

    probably a trojan from microsoft...
  • MaddoxComeHome, on 10/11/2007, -15/+4Jessica Alba implements Silverlight in 21 Days with 21 different men in Linux!
  • Juaquin, on 10/11/2007, -15/+8Dude, what the hell is silverlight? Was that explained anywhere in that link? I could Google search it, but really - if you're going to write an article, please explain (even briefly, couple sentences) what exactly it is. K thx bye
    • Ravatar, on 10/11/2007, -9/+5Super short explanation: Flash competitor with the power of the .Net Framework and its associated technologies behind it. In-browser DirectX support (more or less, through WPF).


      Wikipedia offers a pretty good overview:

      Microsoft Silverlight (code-named Windows Presentation Foundation/Everywhere or WPF/E) is a proprietary runtime for browser-based Rich Internet Applications, providing a subset of the animation, vector graphics, and video playback capabilities of Windows Presentation Foundation. Version 1.1 also includes a complete version of the .NET Common Language Runtime, named CoreCLR, so that Silverlight applications can be written in any .NET language. The runtime is available for Windows XP, Windows Server 2003, Windows Vista and Mac OS X 10.4, with browser plugins available for Internet Explorer 6.0/7.0, Firefox 1.5/2.0 and Safari 2.0; Opera is not supported in the current releases but will be supported with future builds, as will be Windows 2000. Additional platforms are being considered as well.

      Silverlight aims to compete with Adobe Flash and the presentation components of Ajax. It also competes with Sun Microsystems' JavaFX, which was launched a few days after Silverlight. An unattributed report claimed that Microsoft aims to release certain parts of Silverlight source code as open source software, but the claim has been denied by Microsoft. Sam Ramji, Microsoft director of platform technology strategy, said Microsoft has no plans to open source Silverlight. However, portions of the Dynamic Language Runtime, included with Silverlight, have been made available on Microsoft's CodePlex website using the Microsoft Permissive License.

      http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Microsoft_Silverlight
  • n8f8, on 10/11/2007, -13/+6Mad props. C# luv!
  • thailand1972, on 10/11/2007, -11/+1In Soviet Russia, we welcome our Moonlight overlords!
  • bbhullar, on 10/11/2007, -12/+5Adobe Flash FTW!
    • cwcentral, on 10/11/2007, -2/+4"no thanks, not interested in silverlight..."
      Yep, same for FLASH--sorry not interested, move along. If you really want it: MPLAYER + AJAX FTW.
      Modding down in 3...2...1...
  • GaidinTS, on 10/11/2007, -15/+43I don't think all of these guys realize that this is good for Linux. Just because it's Microsoft doesn't mean it's evil. Mono proved how open the .NET standards were, and it looks like Silverlight is the same. I say congrats to Miguel, and I hope Silverlight takes off, so we don't have to keep waiting on Adobe to update Flash.
    • livevil, on 10/11/2007, -5/+7I don't think it will be that friendly in the next version of Silverlight
    • senfo, on 10/11/2007, -0/+2I'm not sure that I follow you. All products have a right to be upgraded and improved upon. If Microsoft updates the standards, the Moonlight programmers will either have to adapt or be left behind. This is nothing new. Innovation is a good thing.
  • Hindu_Wardrobe, on 10/11/2007, -7/+16Miguel de Icaza. He is a man who deserves a blowjob. Done so much for the Linux community.
    • ajxx, on 10/11/2007, -3/+7the world deserves more chixors like you
    • SirG3, on 10/11/2007, -1/+2Total haxx. A chick on digg? who is into Linux and programs? who is good looking? Any chance you could clone yourself?
  • sukimashita, on 10/11/2007, -4/+14Insance coding job and really well done, however...

    Why didn't you guys code a FOSS project to Flash/Silverlight & co. in that time? Instead you gifted your work hours to Microsoft who say Silverlight is a cross-platform solution because it runs on Windows and Macintosh.

    You actually help proprietary technology to gain marketshare although people long for a FOSS "Flash" project? Oh, and how about patents on Silverlight?
    • WorldMaker, on 10/11/2007, -1/+3Where would you start on that project? The closest work in a FOSS "Flash" seems to be WHAT-WG's laundry list and amazing confusion of "standards"...

      You worry about the patent ramifications, but right now it appears that Silverlight/Moonlight is FOSS' best hope for a Flash-like tech. The major components are amazingly standardized with C#, CLI, CLR, XAML, and key pieces of the class libraries being ECMA and/or ISO standards. Some of the class libraries (just about all of the DLR, for instance) even are open sourced my Microsoft. Microsoft isn't selling Silverlight's plugins, and they have many reasons it is in their interest that the Mono team create a good Moonlight... The more interesting competition here would be between the Expression tools and Mono plans for a XAML design tool of their own.
  • shanesemler, on 10/11/2007, -8/+6This is interesting and cool. It seems there are alot of linux zealots with with nothing good to say. They all deserved to be dugg down.
  • dsn0wman, on 10/11/2007, -10/+9Wow the article was dugg 280 times, and the comments where burried about 400 times.

    ......Waiting to be burried
  • Sonic84, on 10/11/2007, -5/+8kudos to getting it done so fast. now, what is it?
    • WorldMaker, on 10/11/2007, -0/+4Microsoft Silverlight is a lighter-weight version of the .NET environment tuned for very scrlptable embedded experiences. Something like "Flash on steroids", although it is more of general purpose canvas than that suggests. Instead of "ActionScript" you get "AJAX", then all your friendly neighborhood CLR languages (C#, VB, et al) and a few newcomers (IronPython, IronRuby, ...). MS provides a Windows and Macintosh plugin for IE, Firefox, and Safari.

      Moonlight is an open source (MIT X11 license) cross-platform implementation of the Silverlight from the Mono project to offer an alternative to the MS version on Windows/Mac and to provide it for the overlooked *nix OSes.
  • generalloy, on 10/11/2007, -5/+15.NET is not open, it and C# both have patents on it, released only for non-commercial use, incompatible with the GPL.
    Mono is only a subset of .NET. The real thing on Windows will always have the Windows monopoly power behind it.

    Maybe ya'll don't remember that ActiveX used to be cross-platform too. Didja just LOL at that thought?
    • Yarnage, on 10/11/2007, -0/+5Well, C# is at least a standardized language so technically it is "open"
      • MutantFruit, on 10/11/2007, -1/+1Thing is .NET is open. It's a recognised standard by the ECMA. You can't get more open than that. Of course, there are non-standard extensions, but that's true of every open standard. There will always be people who extend an open standard in a proprietary way in order to get specific results.
  • generalloy, on 10/11/2007, -9/+4.NET is not open; it and C# both have patents on it, released only for non-commercial use, incompatible with the GPL. WinForms, etc. is Windows only. It is NOT Java, it is what Microsoft wishes it could do to Java, and what Sun sued it for and won twice.
    Mono is only a subset of .NET. The real thing on Windows will always have the Windows monopoly power behind it.

    Maybe ya'll don't remember that ActiveX used to be cross-platform too. Didja just LOL at that?
  • xspinkickx, on 10/11/2007, -4/+4thanks to the devs and team to give this now instead of 3 years from now.
  • fatas, on 10/11/2007, -2/+9This is the usual MS BS its open, and when they have taken over the market they will slowly start closing it up.

    Only good thing it has made the ***** at Adobe to open up a bit more.


  • thinman1189, on 10/11/2007, -2/+4As much as I respect your effort and programming abilities I really don't see this as a good thing. Anything made by Microsoft will hurt the Linux and Open-sourced community. It might not be immediate but just watch, five years from now Microsoft is going to sue everyone for patent infringement for using this. The lawsuit might not make any sense, but you know that it will be filed.

    It really would be cool to incorporate some Microsoft technology into Linux to try and bridge the computability gap but it will just make things worse. As soon as this gets really popular and threatens them they'll sue anyone who's ever touched it.
  • nailer, on 10/11/2007, -0/+4This should have been Microsoft's job - or at least the Mono guys should have been paid by Microsoft to do it. If they want to compete with Flash, they have to run on as many platforms - or people will think Silverlight on OSX will go the way of Internet Explorer and Windows Media Player.
    • DigitalDud, on 10/11/2007, -3/+1Yeah but this is Linux we're talking about. Who cares?
    • tdous, on 10/11/2007, -0/+1Of course they shouldn't have been paid. This is open source. If they didn't want to do it they wouldn't have. It's their own loss if nothing comes of it.
  • Dogtown7, on 10/11/2007, -1/+1Anything that increases use of Linux is good for Linux. If Adobe had overwhelming majority, then they would be tempted to employ monopolistic practices, like MS with their their OS / Office domination. Having multiple competing standards on Linux is in the best interest of the developer community.
  • bluesman42, on 10/11/2007, -1/+1This is really funny (well, most of the comments, anyway - a few of you are not obviously idiots). I am always amused when the open source Nazis start running their mouths. Isn't it funny how "alternatives are good" unless they come from Microsoft? Open source has become more of a religion than anything else - based more on faith and opinion than logic or facts.

    "This should have been Microsoft's job - or at least the Mono guys should have been paid by Microsoft to do it." - hmmmm interesting comment in an "open source" world lol.

    The double standard of the open source religion at work.
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