Why won't Silverlight work for Adobe Staffer Mike Downey?

Comments

# Sean said:

Haha, man, what a jerkstore.

At least that's what I'd type if I wasn't having Internet Explorer related issues right now. <g>

17 January 08 at 12:25 PM

# Mike Downey said:

You crack me up, Scott.

Have you considered that I only visit sites with Silverlight stuff on them when I hear of one of these types of stories? There isn't exactly a lot of Silverlight content out there.

Silverlight still doesn't work for me. I keep asking you guys for help but I'm simply not getting it, so the problem continues. When one of your staffers emailed me with the same issue (Flash instead of SL) I put him directly in touch with the Player team immediately. Happy to jump into an Adobe Connect session and demonstrate the problem for you. I really, truely do want to see some Silverlight stuff.

MD

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Mike Downey, Adobe

17 January 08 at 4:04 PM

# Mike Downey said:

By the way, there's a long list of people on Twitter saying they always have the same problem. Several of my team say they do as well. We just want to know how to fix it.

17 January 08 at 4:16 PM

# scbarnes said:

As Tim pointed out in the link above, at the end of the day bugs occur and what matters is how we go about fixing them or reporting them. Instead of bug reports on key points in time around PR Buzz, how about you work with us? I know from my own personal experience with Flex Builder B3, Flash Installation and Adobe CS3 Installation bugs, I myself have channeled this feedback in the right forum (ie submitted a support/bug request).

Given your background at Adobe and Product management experience, this is something that I know you understand?

That being said..

Michael Scherotter is a fantastic human being and did bend over backwards to try and resolve your issue last time (he did so out of genuine concern), as well as many beforehand. Stating we "ignored" you isn't correct - that being said, I'll take this on as my personal commitment to you to get you sorted in this space, so that you can view a Silverlight experience in OSX.

Feel free to contact me anytime, my door/twitter/email is always open (except obviously when I'm asleep..i.e. 3am my time phone call probably won't get the best out of me heh). I'll even stop off in San Francisco on the way to Seattle in a couple of weeks to personally get this resolved if you like (I'll even be paying for the T&E myself!)

I'm seeing healthy Silverlight adoption and we are getting ready for 2.0 release in the near future. Like i've said in the past, this a marathon, not a sprint as we are building quite a large UX Platform, something I've not seen before of this size. There are solutions being built/shipped or ready to be shipped daily.

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Scott Barnes / Microsoft.

17 January 08 at 6:08 PM

# Phillip Kerman said:

You guy's are both funny.  Naturally, one would hope that a personal visit from Australia to SFO in order to get it running SHOULDN'T be necessary.  On the other hand, I think if Mike really wanted to see the content he could pop over to another machine--say, one running Windows.

Now... as one who has developed Flash for a while, I am sincerely interested in seeing Silverlight's potential.  It seems to be installed correctly at the moment for me.  But I can definitely confirm that it's not a solid install yet.  I've had many times that even after installing it, I get prompted to install it again.  Probably something equivalent to some of the early Flash detection scripts.  

Now... as to Silverlight on Mac--is this really a priority for Microsoft?  I don't get it.  I don't know if it's simply to say "see it's possible" or "we plan to offer the real deal for Mac and Windows"... Seriously, what's the deal?

19 January 08 at 8:10 PM

# scbarnes said:

Philip:

- Well I'm heading to SFO anyway to meet some folks but may as well stop off and give a helping hand or something along those lines anyway hehe..

- You? Flash? Aye, I've got your book still on my shelf - even paid for it out of my own pocket..btw,  you owe me some money for it heheh.

- I don't disagree; I think there is a valid issue with Silverlight and OSX. I know 1.0 has some issues, I also can confirm 2.0 are cooking nicely on my Mac's. Overall though I’ve never encountered d them and I constantly install/uninstall SIlverlight versions on both Macs.. So maybe it’s a case of legacy bits lying on the machine which help it out or a bug hidden somewhere. Either way, It needs to get fixed and I'm chasing it down.

- That being said, it was never a question of the bug but more so the approach.  It just looks bad.. mkay.. And like I said, happy to be wrong on this one :)

- Silverlight on the Mac is just a priority as it is on Windows. You have to realise there are some Microsoftee's whom use Mac's daily and we can be just as vocal internally as well as external. How do you up one with your competitor? You first need to dogfood them in order to put yourself in the peoples shoes your supposed to enhance etc. I am a Google searching, Creative MP3 Listening, Flash/Flex Developer whom evangelises all these products we compete with.

I get funny looks, but that's the only way I get a neutral perspective on what I’m talking about. The point? we aren't a koolaid company - those days are over. Customers dislike it when we come in with a Zealot approach, instead they want us to adapt and integrate with their Heterogeneous technology setup..

That and everything we build now has interoperability associated to it, to ensure we provide competitors an even playing field. If we were a zealot based company and wanted to dominate the industry, it'd be a case of writing blocking code to stomp out Flash? .. That's anti-competitive and it's exactly what we WON’T do.. Even playing field is Microsoft... whether folks belief it or not is entirely up to them.

- The heart of this is really about “Adobe Compete”. Ever notice that I'm probably the only one in Microsoft that talks in this space? This is because of my background but more so because my peers understand what motivates me. It's not to take swipes at Mike Downey's etc, it's to kind of underline the fact I/we'd all like to move forward in RIA discussion.

Yes Silverlight is in Adobe's kitchen, and of course they aren't thrilled with it. To sit back and kind of throw an aggressive posture / tone etc towards us is doing everyone no favours (both brands really). It’s essentially throwing the baby out with the bathwater in order to make a point.

Reason why it’s bad? The Phillip Kerman's of this world just want a healthy discussion around this space.They are smart enough to figure out which has merit and which hasn't but at the same time would like to keep an open mind. We are never one brand.

That's where the true battle is, the rest will just naturally flow into the conversation per context. I think Adobe need to get on board with this sooner rather than later, and it starts with the top folks.. (eg. Adobe CEO making wise cracks about Microsoft doesn't go down with a lot of CIO's).. Which then means under the CIO's developers & designers suffer?

Maturity and also keeping things fair.. Another example is Ryan. I love Ryan’s approach, I have always supported him 100% but at the end of the day how can he report on rumours/leaks on Microsoft and not Adobe? How is that fair and what does that do for ZDNet’s brand? I mean he must know a few deadlines around AIR/FLASH etc how is that going to be reported?

I'll continue to push back on some of these issues until the point gets rammed home.

*shrug* there will be complaints :)

19 January 08 at 9:03 PM

# Phillip Kerman said:

Maturity of execs?  Hmm... I think the all-time over-the-top award goes to a nameless dude from Microsoft!  Who cares about these guys and their funky games?

I wouldn't worry too much about being "fair".

19 January 08 at 11:03 PM

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