Thursday, September 20, 2007

Thoughts on Flash vs. Silverlight

Here’s an interesting post:

http://labs.blitzagency.com/?p=381

While the article is not all about Silverlight vs Flash it does raise an interesting point about Silverlight’s opensource tendency. It’s important to note that Blitz Agency works directly with Microsoft.

Personally, I feel that the interactive arena doesn’t need more opensource conventions but it needs stronger experiences. We need designs that speak to users and create better experience for users beyond the common web pages found all across the web. The commonality of the Web may some times be its downfall in that so many “experiences” are merely duplicates of each other; this obviously creates a big problem for brand identity.

My own opinion is that I would personally like to see the direction of the industry moving more towards the direction of Adobe AIR (platform independence, richer capability, self updating infrastructure, … of course this list isn’t mutually exclusive). AIR provides a very strong platform for interactive experiences. Creating an appropriate business model and finding out where the platform can be used is where the next steps are. The more immersive and platform independent an experience can be will ultimately allow us to create better tools and interaction with users. More visibility and more involvement can create richer impressions.

People are already watching movie trailers, catching current events, and even paying their bills with their cell phones. Why should we stop there? As someone working in the interactive industry I feel our greatest challenge is creating new breathtaking experiences.

It would be a nice dream.