Microsoft vs Adobe Smackdown - Silverlight and Adobe Media Player

by Pete Cashmore

Both Adobe and Microsoft are launching products that step right on each others’ turf today. Microsoft is launching Silverlight, a direct competitor to Adobe’s Flash. Meanwhile, Adobe is launching Adobe Media Player, a rival to Windows Media Player. This could be the hardest fought battle in the rich media space…well, ever.

Silverlight vs Flash

WINNER: Flash

Silverlight has been under development for more than two years. It’s a browser plugin for playing media files and interactive Web apps that works on Windows PCs and Macs with Firefox, IE and Safari. Partners include Brightcove, Limelight Networks, Netflix and Akamai. Silverlight provides DRM and the window can be resized thanks to the use of vectors. A pre-release version is available for download. Flash has a large installed base, and lots of traction after YouTube and other video sites made use of it. Microsoft, however, could reverse that trend by including Silverlight in automatic updates, pre-installing it on PCs and so on.

Adobe Media Player vs Windows Media Player

WINNER: Windows Media Player

The Adobe Media Player, meanwhile, is a free desktop media player designed to take on Windows Media Player. Adobe is going in the other direction to Microsoft: trying to leverage its dominance of online video and interactive apps to kickstart uptake of the desktop app. Adobe Media Player lets you subscribe to content via RSS, and it’s the only major desktop media player that will support Flash. This too is cross platform (Windows and Mac), and features Flash DRM, a feature that the independent company Widevine announced last week. Providers will also be able to attach ads to content.

It seems to me that the ultimate winner in this battle will be the one to push the greatest number of users from one platform to another: from Windows to Silverlight, and from Flash to Adobe Media Player. Both companies seem to have a good shot at doing that, meaning that the ultimate victor is just too hard to call.