The problem with Silverlight

I have just read that Microsoft is again pushing some video streaming site to use Silverlight to cover major sporting events.

My problem with Silverlight is that it is not available on enough platforms, and that the version level varies depending on the platform.

On windows and intel Macs it's on version 2, on Linux it's on version 1 and it is not available on non-intel mac and on the Wii. It is also available only for Firefox, IE and maybe the Mac's native browser (I don't have a mac, so I can't confirm this). There is no support yet for Opera or Chrome.

Microsoft should first ensure that the plugin is available on more platforms at a consistent level before pushing the technology in the mainstream, or it will antagonize the user and give the technology an image of "do not work" with the public.

The Olympics were a big debacle for Microsoft because it was the time when the Linux Netbooks were starting to be very popular and the Linux plugin was not yet ready, so the olympics videos didn't play on these gadgets. This resulted in a black eye for NBC and a lot of people going to torrent sites instead of NBC.

Recently I went to a site with my Linux Netbook and the site asked me to install the latest plugin, and redirected me to Moonlight (the Linux version of Silverlight), only after i installed the plugin it still told me I was missing the plugin because it expected Silverlight 2, which is not yet available on Linux. The result: SILVERLIGHT DOESN'T WORK!

Flash on the other hand works on Linux and the Wii, meaning that Silverlight suffers badly in the comparison

First make it work on all the platforms that tour competition supports, then promote it! Going the other way around WILL antagonize the users to your technology.

UPDATE: Apparently the IPL experiment with Silverlight isn't on a good start