Flex vs Silverlight: Debate at Cal Poly Pomona

If you haven’t seen it yet, check out the debate between Adobe’s Kevin Hoyt and Microsoft’s Sam Stokes, which was presented last week at Cal Poly Pomona. Although my perspective is admittedly a bit skewed, seeing as I love Flex and hate Microsoft, I think the victor is fairly obvious.

The Microsoft presentation was very weak, relying heavily on the strength of one image manipulation library and a couple “non-Silverlight” services. Even I expected more from Microsoft. Give the video a watch and see if you agree.

http://video.csupomona.edu/streaming/Events/FutureOfComputing.html


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This entry was posted on Monday, February 16th, 2009 at 2:15 pm and is filed under AIR, Flex, Miscellaneous. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

5 Responses to “Flex vs Silverlight: Debate at Cal Poly Pomona”

  1. Josh Highland Says:
    February 17th, 2009 at 10:21 am

    Im going to have to agree, Adobe mopped the floor with microsoft that night.

  2. Scott Barnes Says:
    March 10th, 2009 at 3:38 pm

    Whilst we have a much broader offering, Sam felt given the specific audience at the time were more interested in the topics he outlined.

    The title of the event was also a misgiving since there was no actual debate but more of a show & tell by both parties. There is no absolute winner in these types of things as at the end of the day, developers & designers decide by their actual shipping schedules and willingness to adopt. The rest is simply commentary :)

    -
    Scott Barnes
    Rich Platforms Product Manager
    Microsoft.

  3. Pinal Dave Says:
    March 10th, 2009 at 11:28 pm

    I looked at video and I liked it. I will say this was just telling what their product do. There is no comparison between two products.

    Any way, this video do have many informative topics.

    I also enjoy reading this : http://extremeblue.wordpress.com/2008/04/28/flex-vs-silverlight-my-views/

  4. Gill Says:
    March 11th, 2009 at 11:44 pm

    Over half the audience was students that were quite tech savvy so to say. I think Sam would have been better off to tell us technical things that would have impressed us (such as how Silverlight is multi-threading while Air is not.)

  5. Mike Says:
    May 27th, 2009 at 5:18 am

    The outcome of the argument depends on what the needs are for your project. In general, if you’re after a relatively simple app with animation etc, then Flex is the go, and has an easier learning curve. If, however, you’re wanting to build an enterprise scale application, then Silverlight is undoubtedly the best choice – for a range of reasons outlined at: http://codertron.blogspot.com/2009/05/flex-3-versus-silverlight-3-in.html

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