| "Moonlight" ready to shine |
Nov. 19, 2008
Microsoft's "Silverlight" alternative to Adobe Flash may be just about ready for the Linux desktop. A developer blog says the first beta release of the open source Moonlight 1.0 for Linux will arrive "very, very soon," while a new Moonlight 2.0 development effort is welcoming new contributors.
The Novell-sponsored Mono group released version 0.7 of Moonlight in July. Built in part on VC-1 video codecs contributed by Microsoft, a 1.0 release is now imminent, according to the SqueedlySpooch.com blog written by "toshok."
Moonlight is based on the Mono project's recently released Mono 2.0, which Novell offers as a dual-licensed cross-platform implementation of Microsoft's .NET development framework. Mono 2.0 adds "full" compatibility with .NET 2.0, improves performance and stability, and introduces an analytical tool for .NET-to-Linux migrations, says the project.
Miguel de Icaza |
In a recent interview, Mono leader and GNOME project co-founder Miguel de Icaza reported that Moonlight 1.0 would support MP3, WMA, WMA-Pro, WMV-7,8,9, and "the one everyone is using, VC1."
Moonlight 2.0, meanwhile, will add H.264, said de Icaza. "All of these codecs are patent-encumbered, and licensed by MPEGLA [vendor site], a kind of holding company for codec licenses," he said. "The implementation will be Microsoft's."
Moonlight is also being incorporated into Nokia's Maemo distribution used on its Linux-based Nokia Internet Tablets.
If Microsoft can succeed in making Silverlight playback capabilities as ubiquitous as possible, its multimedia content creation tools will be better positioned to compete with similar tools, such as Creative Suite 4, from competitor Adobe. However, Adobe arguably has an early lead, with its Flash technology reportedly achieving a 90 percent penetration on Internet-enabled desktops -- see our earlier coverage here for details.
Microsoft's biggest win for Silverlight so far was the 2008 Olympic games, held in Beijing. Internet video from the games was broadcast by NBC exclusively in Silverlight 2.0 format. A release of Silverlight 2.0 for Linux could happen during 2009, according to widespread reports.
For additional details, see coverage here on our sister site, Microsoft-Watch.
Availability
Mono's Moonlight beta 1 page should be here.
-- Eric Brown. Henry Kingman also contributed to this report.
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