IE on WP7: HTML5, Silverlight, and Flash (Oh My!)

As we get closer to the launch of Windows Phone seven, it'south inevitable that we are going to start learning more most Windows Phones and the Operating System backside them. Hardware details are becoming more plentiful, data about what we can expect from apps and the Marketplace are getting tossed around, and even carrier availability is becoming less of a mystery.

One expanse that I'm actually surprised that it hasn't received more time under the microscope is Internet Explorer. There has been some traffic amongst the developer community as of tardily around the fact that Microsoft has neglected back up for HTML5 in Windows Phone 7, just how much of a trouble is this to Microsoft and to Windows Phone 7 in item? Read on for my stance.

Groundwork

HTML5 (HyperText Markup Language version v), for those of you that aren't developers, is being billed every bit the future of the web. The World wide web Consortium (W3C) is the governing body for web standards. In a nutshell, the large push button for HTML5 is that yous won't demand browser plugins such as Adobe Flash or Microsoft Silverlight to do things like playing streaming video through the browser or edifice highly interactive websites. The HTML5 standard supports these things and much more than from the starting time.

The downside to HTML5 at this indicate is that the standard isn't finalized. That hasn't stopped companies like Apple and Google from implementing support for the standard as-is within their browsers and mobile devices. Information technology goes without saying that these are 2 of Microsoft's biggest competitors in a number of dissimilar markets, which is why the exclusion of HTML5 support in WP7 is worth mentioning in the firstplace.

Why this could be a problem

When Apple's iPad (without a doubt the biggest device launch so far this year) was released, ane of the big complaints nigh the device was the lack of Flash support. The big reason for this complaint is the proliferation of Wink on sites across the Internet. Sites similar YouTube and Hulu use Flash to stream video to computers and take go some of the most popular sites on the Net. NetFlix uses Silverlight to attain essentially the aforementioned matter. Apple CEO Steve Jobs touted Safari's HTML5 back up every bit the alternative. Because of the popularity of iOS devices (and also Android'south support for HTML5), YouTube and others accept created HTML5 versions of their site specifically for this niche. The fact that Cyberspace Explorer on Windows Phone supports exactly cipher of the three solutions is certainly cause for some warning.

Why this won't exist a problem

Get-go of all, Microsoft has already said that Flash and Silverlight support are coming. Accept y'all heard that from Steve Jobs lately? 2d, the need for Wink/Silverlight/HTML5 support is non as great for mobile devices that use apps to integrate with services. Specifically, using a YouTube or Netflix awarding on Windows Phone 7 is more preferable than navigating the site for a couple of reasons; the UI is tailored more than to a mobile device and the performance is going to exist better considering it's optimized for the hardware.

From a long-term perspective, we know Microsoft is making HTML5 a top priority. Microsoft recognizes that the future is in HTML5, and they are making adjustments accordingly. Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer has said that HTML5 is going to be the company's focus going forward for spider web-based applications. This sentiment has been echoed this week at Microsoft's Professional Developer Conference (PDC) by Microsoft'south Ray Muglia (President in charge of Server and Tools), "HTML is the only true cross platform solution for everything".

Obviously, nosotros're going to accept to put some trust in Microsoft being proactive in updating Cyberspace Explorer for Windows Phone. The adept news is that the browser can exist updated independently from the rest of the OS. This should bode well for the timeliness of updates, and should brand the Internet Explorer browser competitive with others on the market in a reasonable amount of time.

And then what does this hateful for Silverlight? Ballmer and Muglia both point to the fact that Silverlight is notwithstanding a good for you platform for development, most notably for Windows Telephone. The focus for Silverlight is shifting from being a web based platform to more specific uses such equally Windows Telephone; from a HTML5 competitor to something more than in line with a language like Java. It's hard to say how this volition impact Windows Phone, simply with the narrowed focus to the phone hardware and Bone, it could be a very expert thing.

Conclusion

This is what technology is all about. Keeping up with the moving target that is tech is a constant struggle, but information technology's 1 that isn't new to Microsoft. Compared to Windows Mobile, Windows Phone seven is a massive jump towards where Microsoft wants to be. Sure, it's not a perfect platform, and it doesn't do everything that I want my telephone to handle; but neither do the iPhone or Android devices on the market. Is it a not bad first step? For certain.

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