Silverlight Dropped By NBC, Runs Back To Adobe For Flash

NBC in USA seems to wash off its hands this weekend after their network recently wrapped up their streaming of the Olympics using Microsoft’s Silverlight technology.  However if you tuned in for this week’s NFL season opener, all these years NBC was using Adobe’s Flash technology instead of Silverlight. Making some do a double take, here’s a look at why NBC left Silverlight in a flash (pun intended).

NBC took a chance on Silverlight to stream the Olympic ceremonies for online and mobile viewers. While this was a great opportunity for Microsoft to promote its Silverlight platform, it wasn’t enough for NBC. According to SAI,

“Microsoft, meanwhile, said that during the Olympics, 40 million US to visitors NBCOlympics.com didn’t yet have Silverlight installed.”

NBC has already begun switching back to Adobe Flash for the start of the NFL season. Yet their efforts don’t seem to be paying off at the moment with reports of video playback for the NFL season starter game being too became non-starter.

Not A Good Sign Any More

We all know that not less than 98% of computer users have Adobe Flash installed. It’s easy to see why NBC would want to switch back. The partnership between Microsoft and NBC was likely more beneficial to Microsoft in the end.  Now I feel like Microsoft instead of competing with Adobe, it should join forces furthering Adobe Flash Player to next level.  One of the downsides for NBC was that users tend to become either wary or lazy about downloading new extensions for a website. This is especially true if the website was working just fine with previous extensions only days before. However, with a rocky start to switching back, NBC online sports fans are probably pondering if it’s even worth the effort anymore.

At last, Flashlite comes to Windows Mobile Devices!!!

Adobe have announced a licencing agreement that will see both Flash Lite 3.x and above and the Adobe Reader LE software available on Windows Mobiles; the former, to be released as a plugin for Internet Explorer Mobile, will allow streaming media sites such as YouTube and alike to be viewed on the hand held devices.  The latter will make PDF format files – whether received as email attachments or as online content – viewable.  All new official Windows Mobile OEM licensees will have access to the new plugins.

“People want vibrant web experiences and access to entertainment and information anywhere, anytime.  Bringing Flash Lite and Reader LE to the Windows Mobile experience will give consumers more of their favorite websites on the go” John O’Rourke, General Manager in charge of  Mobile Communications Business at Microsoft.

The move comes shortly after Microsoft’s own Silverlight streaming media platform was licenced to Symbian for use in S60, S40 and UIQ powered-devices.  However Windows Mobile version of Silverlight is yet to see the light of the day.