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Flash, Meet Sparkle
Robert writes "Microsoft finally released more information about their Sparkle product on a Channel 9 MSDN video. Sparkle is vector based XAML system for doing applications that may have traditionaly been done in flash. Ars Technica's Josh Meier has a few things to say about it, too."
XAML.
... "XAML is a declarative XML-based language optimized for describing graphically rich visual user interfaces, such as those created by Macromedia Flash" ... "This Microsoft Windows article is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it."
"the user interface markup language for Windows Vista, the next version of Microsoft Windows."
Mr. Sparkle: Can you see I am serious?
Firefox Users: If the WMV doesn't work, try going tools, options, downloads, and on the bottom right click plugins, uncheck wmv, and if you don't want pdfs opening in firefox (meaning download first THEN open, I prefer this method, always faster and more stable) then uncheck pdf and anything else you don't want opening in firefox
There is another kind of evil which we must fear most, and that is the indifference of good men. -- Boondock Saints
Remember there's an open source Flash player, called GplFlash,. It appeared a few months ago in another slashdot article. However, it's only available via CVS (yet).
And then you can use this tool to convert the web based C#/XAML app back to Flash. http://www.xamlon.com/
.exe it has its limitations (disk access, etc -- which requires workarounds like embedding it inside another layer (ie. C# app) and passing messages back and forth).
Hopefully Macrobe will take this as a challenge and drop in some 3d support and copy a few other features into their next version.
Main differences here is Flash is focused on the web - while you can output an
Sparkle is for Desktop apps - and you can output for the web (but will limit your potential audience)
Version 2 is only in CVS, but releases of version 1 can be downloaded
I think you may need to add something like at the start, but yeah, that sounds a lot like what they did with MS Office.
It was not actually homer simpson: Homer just happens to look exactly like the fish/lightbulb hybrid in the ad.
If you're going to make fun of the Japanese accent you could at least do it properly and use romanji: "Misutaa Supaakoru"
Actually, that's wrong. MS demonstrated a Mac runtime.
1) Sparkle is not a technology. Sparkle is the codename for an application. Get it right.
2) The technology is Windows Presentation Foundation (formally codenamed Avalon).
3) It is not a flash killer. It is true that you can host Avalon applications in a web browser, and they will interact with the back and forward buttons of a web browser. It is true that Microsoft is touting this as a high-end replacement for HTML (as far as I can tell).
4) Although details are sketchy, Microsoft has announced a royalty free OPEN technology called Windows Presentation Foundation / Everywhere. This means that you can run these applications in ANY web browser on ANY platform.
Here's a clue for you - fixes increment the version number. You HAVE to upgrade to a new version.
As for how long you can get support for - that depends on the vendor. Any paid for support seems to be around 2 -3 years (2 years for SUSE, 2.5 for RedHat). The unsuported options run at a much faster pace.... which might be where you get your 6 months figure. Of course - this ignores Debian which, while there is no formal support contract, backports all security fixes to their stable release (and have a rather fast moving Testing and much-faster Unstable targets).
There's obviously people who are very happy with the products. Or they wouldn't be where they are. But that doesn't mean there isn't a change in the industry.
I work in a large enterprise. We have people who are absolute Microsoft fanboys (and outright zealots in some cases). We have folks who are indifferent. We have folks who range from dislike to absolute hate of the company and anything it produces. The "dislike" column has been increasing over the years. In fact, it's become a rather popular notion.
So hey - if it's not felt in your neck of the woods, fair enough. Glad you're doing fine over there. It either means you're avoiding some hassle or missing out. Time will tell.
Last time I checked, people were still backporting fixes into 2.2.x branches...
Besides, each new Linux kernel is free, which means upgrading is much more painless financially. In the Microsoft world, "it's too old/we don't support it" really means "you have to pay us another license fee to get your security patches! ".
And if you're running a super-old kernel, you have all the old source and new patches available and you can backport the fixes yourself. Try THAT with Windows...
The point: you're comparing apples and oranges, and saying that apples are worse because they aren't orange.
--S
-- sigs cause cancer.
Excuse me? The blink tag can alter files on your hard disk? I'm not sure where the analogy fits...
Excuse me!?!?
Who said anything about altering files on a hard disk. You should probably get a clue before you start posting. If you knew anything about Vista you would know it is not possible to do that based on the security model.
I know it might be hard to resist the temptation to base at Microsoft at any oportunity but do us all a favor and become educated before spouting off the latest drivel.
Bet this