Rare is the occasion that Microsoft does something right, and chances are high that the wrongdoing will continue with the Silverlight technology. Silverlight is Microsoft's answer to Adobe's Flash. The competition between these two proprietary formats is expected to heat up this year. Unfortunately, there are problems with both formats, and this becomes even further apparent when you consider compatibility on alternative operating systems.

Both Flash and Silverlight have very poor support on Linux based systems. Adobe has not released a fully compatible version of Flash for 64-bit processors, and the development team has excuses--reality check, it is actually inexcusable. Silverlight is being ported to alternative operating systems, but the details of this are very sketchy. It is becoming a growing pain for Linux users, and those who wish to take advantage of 64-bit processing are punished.

If Microsoft decides to support Silverlight on alternative operating systems and 64-bit processing, it might become a slight advantage. This is an advantage that Microsoft should be willing to utilize. When one considers the fact that Adobe Flash has plenty of support, developers, and momentum, it means that it will require radical changes to put Silverlight in the spotlight.

Numerous developer forums have revealed that developers are not that interested in Silverlight, and development of new applications would be key to Silverlight's success. It raises more questions for the future of this newcomer in rich media content, but the picture should become clearer later on this year. Support from the open source community, although nearly impossible, could be a great boost for Silverlight.