Does Silverlight Ever Work?

[Perryg114]

Anyone else had bad luck with MS Silverlight apps? There are several apps used for tax appraisals that are handy to have when you are looking for a house. They tell you the exact dimensions and tax values etc of a property. It seems that all of them use Silverlight but few of them work well. Is it Silverlight or just crappy software? This is using XP, and Win 7 with Firefox and IE.

Perry

 

[dphantom]

crappy apps. the same can be said for flash or java.

 

[readymix]

use it regularly with optimumapp/laptop fine. afaik, that's all I use it for.

 

[Sattern]

I haven't used silverlight in a long time because I can't find any apps that are halfway decent.

I probably works for other people, but not for me.

 

[corkyg]

It somehow got installed on my Win7 system, and was updated for two years. I never used it, so last week I uninstalled it. Nothing has changed, so I guess I did not need it.

 

[pyonir]

It somehow got installed on my Win7 system, and was updated for two years. I never used it, so last week I uninstalled it. Nothing has changed, so I guess I did not need it.

haha. I've never bothered to install it and only once has that been an issue. I wanted to see some Olympics highlights and they used it on the NBC site (I think this was either the 2008 or 2010 Olympics). I said "screw that" and didn't bother. That's the only time a site has wanted it.

 

[WilliamM2]

Netflix is the only thing I have that uses it, in Chrome. No issues.

 

[Ketchup]

Netflix is the only thing I have that uses it, in Chrome. No issues.

Same for me, with FF. So, crappy apps it is, YAY!

I mean, boo you crappy apps, boo!

 

[John Connor]

I don't use Silverlight anymore since i got rid of Netflix. I used Firefox back then, now I use Palemoon. Silverlight and Java are gone as plugins that you don't use should be uninstalled unless you need them.

 

[Red Squirrel]

Silverlight needs to die, so does flash, but Silverlight needs to die more before it starts to gain adoption. We need less stupid plugins, not more. At least with flash it works in Linux too, with silverlight you're screwed. Probably why Microsoft made it in first place, so ensure they can try to force people on their platform if it gains mass adoption.

 

[TheRyuu]

Ever since Netflix got html5 support I haven't had to use Silverlight although I can't say I ever had any problems back when that was the only option. That's kind of my only experience with it so does that make me lucky?

Netflix's html5 player apparently now works in Chrome as well (even on linux if you make yourself look like a Windows user) on version 37+ (currently beta).

 

[Red Squirrel]

Wow great to hear that Netflix went with HTML5. Silverlight was one of the main things that kept me from getting an account as my HTPC is Linux.

 

[TheRyuu]

Wow great to hear that Netflix went with HTML5. Silverlight was one of the main things that kept me from getting an account as my HTPC is Linux.

Relevant information [1].

[1] http://liliputing.com/2014/06/netfl...m-silverlight-to-html5-on-some-platforms.html

 

[oynaz]

Wow great to hear that Netflix went with HTML5. Silverlight was one of the main things that kept me from getting an account as my HTPC is Linux.

Only in Internet Exlporer at the moment, though.

 

[Aldon]

What's wrong with Java? The security exploits? Probably, but that might be due to the fact that less people know what Silverlight is than Snapchat.

 

[oynaz]

What's wrong with Java? The security exploits? Probably, but that might be due to the fact that less people know what Silverlight is than Snapchat.

From Microsoft's point of view, the problem with Java is that it is not a Microsoft product.

 

[nemesismk2]

I installed MS Silverlight in 2009 with Windows 7 because thought it might speed something up but didn't find any sites which used it so uninstalled it a couple of years later.

 

[Perryg114]

Here is the link that I can't get to load accept on my laptop at home. It won't load at work at all.

http://isv.kcsgis.com/al.morgan_revenue/

Perry

 

[Scarpozzi]

haha. I've never bothered to install it and only once has that been an issue. I wanted to see some Olympics highlights and they used it on the NBC site (I think this was either the 2008 or 2010 Olympics). I said "screw that" and didn't bother. That's the only time a site has wanted it.

Yeah...they probably hired some firm to code the page and they chose Silverlight in lieu of Flash or some other graphic bandwidth hog. It all depends on what the entry-level programmers last learned when they were in school.

 

[Fardringle]

Silverlight works great for Netflix. I don't use it for anything else.

 

[jjjayb]

Here is the link that I can't get to load accept on my laptop at home. It won't load at work at all.

http://isv.kcsgis.com/al.morgan_revenue/

Perry

Works for me on IE11 on windows 7.

 

[TheRyuu]

Only in Internet Exlporer at the moment, though.

It works in Chrome now as well although only on Windows, or more specifically only if you appear to use Windows (from the user agent). See my original post for the link [1]. Should work in Chrome 37+.

[1] http://forums.anandtech.com/showthread.php?p=36640899

 

[jkauff]

It's also used for Amazon Prime, mostly because it has more DRM support than Flash. The DRM is so intrusive if you change your motherboard/CPU, it stops working until you jump through several hoops. Definitely deserves to die.

 

[AFurryReptile]

Netflix works just fine for me. Must be a poorly-coded app.

 

[oynaz]

It works in Chrome now as well although only on Windows, or more specifically only if you appear to use Windows (from the user agent). See my original post for the link [1]. Should work in Chrome 37+.

[1] http://forums.anandtech.com/showthread.php?p=36640899

Oh, cool. Didn't know that.