Silverlight Is Still Racing Flash
Microsoft Corp. (MSFT) has closed the technological gap with Adobe Systems Inc. (ADBE) in a battle over software for adding video and animation to Web sites. But Microsoft’s efforts to win customers in the market are moving much slower.
Over the past two years, Microsoft has poured resources into its technology for online video and animation–dubbed Silverlight–and has boosted its ability to deliver high-definition video with the technology. Silverlight is positioned as a rival to Adobe’s technology, which is known as Flash.
While Microsoft has nabbed some marquee Web customers for Silverlight, including the National Football League, most popular video sites like YouTube and Hulu continue to use Flash. That’s because the Adobe software is much more broadly installed on computers than Microsoft’s technology.
