@Haggai the converse can be argued -- anything that can be done in Flash can be done in Silverlight.<div><br></div><div>Personally, i believe you cast your die where you leverage your skills best. This is one of those arguments like Islam/Christianity, Unix/Windows etc that  are utterly pointless. Everyone believes they are right. Everyone can quote facts, statistics and top x reasons to use y over z to support their point.</div>
<div><br></div><div>I encourage people to visit the Microsoft Silverlight developer site and the Adobe Flash/Flex/AIR site and make informed decisions for themselves.<br><br><div class="gmail_quote">On Tue, Mar 2, 2010 at 12:58 PM, Haggai Nyang <span dir="ltr">&lt;<a href="mailto:haggai.nyang@gmail.com">haggai.nyang@gmail.com</a>&gt;</span> wrote:<br>
<blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0 0 0 .8ex;border-left:1px #ccc solid;padding-left:1ex;">This discussion has been all the rave recently in countless forums...if you google you&#39;ll see why.<br><br>Flash is not going to die out anytime soon. Yes, HTML5 IMO is going to give it a bigger run for its money than Silverlight, but as it is the HTML5 spec is not totally ironed out...e.g. they haven&#39;t standardized the video format to use. OGG is the one mostly in use with HTML5 btw.<br>


<br>I&#39;ve checked out some demo sites...I admit the font embedding and drag/drop features are slick without having to right-click and see &quot;Silverlight&quot; or &quot;Flash Player x&quot; but the video demos for HTML5 I&#39;ve seen are a little bit buggy. Several things to note here:<br>


<ul><li>Flash is ubiquitous - it&#39;s installed in over 98% of machines worldwide...i.e. computers and smartphones...save for Apple products.</li><li>Flash is WORA - write once, run anywhere. Can&#39;t say the same about HTML5, even the latest version of Firefox doesn&#39;t score all HTML5 benchmarks - I had to use Chrome to view a HTML5 video demo.</li>


<li>The other underestimated aspect of Flash is Flex and AIR - this app-oriented approach has not hit the mainstream but I believe in the near future more guys will be regarding Flash/Flex/AIR as more of an app development platform than just something to make those annoying ads online.</li>


<li>The tools for building Flash apps are getting more advanced by the day - google Flash Catalyst and see what I&#39;m talking about...who imagined you create an app with from an image/wireframe you drew in Illustrator or Photoshop in a few minutes?<br>


</li><li>As for Silverlight I believe M$ was reacting to Adobe&#39;s dominance in that sector - everything that you can do in Silverlight can be done in Flash - and more. As for a Flex equivalent in Silverlight...I saw a bashful on this silverlight forum so judge for yourself: <a href="http://forums.silverlight.net/forums/p/634/1076.aspx" target="_blank">http://forums.silverlight.net/forums/p/634/1076.aspx</a><br>


</li></ul>I might sound like a Flash/Flex evangelist - yes - I&#39;m an enthusiast. HTML5 will rock in the future, but it will take a while to iron out standards issues, garner significant market share and convince Flash/Flex affictionados like me to head over there. I&#39;ll only bother with HTML5 if I see something worthwhile that I can not do in Flash.<br>


<br>I&#39;m sure at this point you&#39;re all screaming Apple? Adobe Flash CS5 will support compiling your app into a native iPhone app. That&#39;s a sure selling point for me to keep investing in Flash/Flex/AIR in the foreseeable future. Already there are apps built in ActionScript 3 that are on the Apple App Store:<br>


<a href="http://labs.adobe.com/technologies/flashcs5/appsfor_iphone/" target="_blank">http://labs.adobe.com/technologies/flashcs5/appsfor_iphone/</a><br><br>On a lighter note, is your cousin a she or he? Got a bit confused there :)</blockquote>
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