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PODoes Silverlight have enough of an install base to consider deploying a public web application with it?
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  1. PODoes Silverlight have enough of an install base to consider deploying a public web application with it?
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    copied!<p>I know this question has been asked a million times in various ways by different businesses, but I'm wondering the community's opinion on it [There's <a href="https://stackoverflow.com/questions/60121/silverlight-install-base-how-big-is-it">this question</a>, but in the fast-moving world of tech, a year is a long time]. For hypotheoretical purposes, let's consider a website where users can watch videos, a la YouTube, Hulu, etc. (actually, it's an on-demand transcoding solution, but close enough). The website could deployed:</p> <ol> <li>Using HTML, JavaScript, and HTML5's <code>&lt;video&gt;</code> tag</li> <li>Using HTML, JavaScript and Flash (like most are right now)</li> <li>Using HTML, JavaScript and Silverlight just for the video player</li> <li>Using Silverlight for navigation, creating a rich all-Silverlight experience</li> </ol> <p>(Let's assume, again hypoteoretically, that the all-Silverlight version is not as annoying as most all-Flash pages are today, but instead provides an experience similar to a desktop application)</p> <p>Which way would be able to reach a large percentage of the population? How would people feel about having to install Silverlight to view a site -- how much would they want to see the content to make them click the install button? What if a user is browsing the site at the library on on another public computer with limited bandwidth, possibly using older hardware and with an unprivileged user account -- how easy would it be for them to install the Silverlight runtime?</p> <p>I <em>really</em> want to use Silverlight since I like its' model (I've been using it for an internal app at work, and I think it's an excellent platform), however I'm afraid that for a public site, a large percentage of users would not be able to view the site, then Flash may be better option.</p> <p><strong>EDIT:</strong></p> <p>Well, the idea is to have a player where users can access videos on their home PCs from the web. So the users usually won't be using a home PC -- they'll be using work PCs, friend's PCs, public PCs, etc. That's why I'm worried about the security/install privileges issue.</p>
 

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