If you haven’t seen Microsoft’s new specialized multitouch device Surface, I think it’s worth a look. This is the next iMac of the computer world as far as I’m concerned, only maybe even more significant than that. Surface is probably going to pave the way for a new niche in the software industry. There’s going to be a huge demand for multimedia applications that take advantage of the touch interface, so if you are looking to be in the right place at the right time, it might be good to start looking at Silverlight.

And computers like MS Surface aren’t just for entertainment purposes. They’ll have an impact in architecture, software design, business analytics, painting, military – you name it, it’s going to play a role.

Too Sexy For My Laptop…..So Sexy It Hurts. I couldn’t resist. This article (found on Slashdot) at BusinessWeek talks about Intel’s new attempt to convince fashionistas to trade in their MacBooks for something even more stylish - the trendiest and thinnest (aren’t those the same thing!!) of all laptops. I wonder if utility will agree with design…I can see it now - “Like, how do I even turn this awww-oonnn??” What’s next, a Vuitton-Intel collaboration?

I love to state the obvious…it’s my favorite. Anyway, check out this graphical representation (it was Slashdotted a few days back, so it may be down from time to time) of Wikipedia article interest. The nerd in me loves this kind of thing. It would be great to have a web site or application that displays this information in real time. I’d love to see something like this for blogs as well. It’s great to see controversy thriving on Wikipedia, arguably the best and most useful site on the internet.

Silverlight is better than Flash. Microsoft Silverlight is better than Flash. It causes me great pain to say something so positive about a Microsoft product. For close to a decade I’ve made it a point to avoid MS products when at all possible. Yes I’ve used Windows (and I still use it to this day) and then of course I was the one-time owner of an XBox, but any chance to bag Microsoft is always seized with the highest level of enthusiasm. So while I’m aware the opening statement of this entry is bound to provoke involuntary cursing and other unspeakables please understand that I’ve undergone (and it continues) my own round of inner turmoil over this subject. Now that I’ve gotten that out, let me explain why I believe Silverlight has the potential to eclipse Adobe’s industry-leading Flash player and accompanying tools:

1. It’s all about enterprise-level solutions. Silverlight (for brevity I’ll refer to Silverlight as SL from now on) has the advantage of being built on a subset of the .NET framework, which has gained a large following over the past several years. SL applications run on an ultra-light Common Language Runtime (CLR) derived from the standard .NET CLR which means that SL applications can be written in such MS staples as C# and VB, allowing development groups to author media-rich UIs using the same languages (and supporting IDEs, etc) as server-side components. This may not appeal to the embattled Flash designer, but any IT executive can attest to the costs associated with supporting multiple technologies during application development. Sure Adobe has ColdFusion, but that technology doesn’t enjoy the market support that .NET does.

2. Silverlight Is More Portable. I’m not talking about cross-platform and cross-browser consideration, although SL claims to be both. I’m talking about the ability to port code from the desktop to the web (and back again). Because SL apps have access to a subset of the .NET Framework there is the potential for applications that have the ability to operate on desktop environments with a .NET-compliant framework and in the web browser within the SL CLR-lite.

3. Silverlight is fast, feature-rich, and keeps developers in mind. SL does very well in benchmarks - much faster than current versions of the Flash player and any browser’s JavaScript interpreter. Silverlight has access to a multitude of presentation features such as tweening, video support, web services, and it maintains all this functionality without alienating traditional developers with a confusing IDE. Traditional developers can write VB or C# from Visual Studio while front-end folks can use a separate tool known as Expression. The technology that brings these two perspectives together is XAML (pronounced zammel), a markup language designed to convey presentation logic including (but not limited to) vector-based graphics and video.

It’s true that Silverlight is in very early stages, and there are many obstacles to be reckoned with before it can take the crown from Flash, but I’m very impressed with what I see right now. If you love to hate Microsoft, don’t let contempt blind you from this exciting and promising technology.

Since widgets have been the talk of the town for months if not years (which translates to decades and centuries web time) I guess it’s only fair I get my overdue commentary out of the way. I’m going to bring my side dish to the buffet even if everyone is already stuffed to the gills.

If you don’t know what a widget is, check the supreme wiki. It is most definitely not those random things you were adding up in Business Finance 1113.

There are many widget platforms out there to choose from. Most web users have probably heard of Yahoo! Widgets and Netvibes. While both of these platforms have their merits I think SpringWidgets is the most compelling offering to date. Yahoo! seems to rule the desktop realm and NetVibes is entrenched as one of the web leaders, but neither of the aforementioned work well as a web and desktop framework. SpringWidgets’ SpringBox platform attempts to bridge the gap between the two by leveraging Flash, a technology already installed on most computers. SpringWidgets allows developers to create Flash-based widgets that can operate within the SpringBox desktop environment or as an object embedded in a web page. The downside of SW is they currently don’t offer the desktop environment for OSX or Linux. Another drawback is no web environment is currently available for aggregating widgets. In any event, I don’t see any framework winning out altogether in the widget space, but the ones that support programs that can leap the gap from web to OS are going to have a leg up.

It would be interesting to see if OpenLaszlo could be utilized for the purpose of generating JavaScript-based widgets for the web and Flash widgets for the desktop. Using this approach one might be able to render the widgets in ways that suit the respective environments.