Silverlight

Overheard: AJAX, ARAX, APAX, APhpAX, etc.

If this [ARAX] is about using Silverlight to host client-side browser scripting in Ruby, it’s definitely an appealing notion, but the problem will always be about Silverlight being a Microsoft technology. Ben Galbraith, as quoted in  Johnson: Wrapping JavaScript in a loving Ruby embrace, and ARAX

 From InfoWorld:

Today, it is common for developers to use JavaScript in the browser. But with Microsoft’s planned release of Silverlight 2 later this year, developers could begin using Python and Ruby on the client as well. Ruby and Python already are being used for server-side development.

“What we’ve done through Silverlight is to make it possible to use Ruby or Python as an alternative to JavaScript for building the same types of applications,” said Brian Goldfarb, group manager for Microsoft’s developer division.  Developers could write code for Silverlight that is executed in the browser.

“All the browser needs to have is Silverlight installed and then developers can take advantage of these languages,” on the client, he said. Silverlight provides rich experiences with capabilities like video and graphics, Goldfarb said. It is viewed as rival to the Adobe Flash platform.

I can hardly keep these straight, although I’m thankful the names are so logical!

AJAX - asynchronous JavaScript and XML

ARAX - asynchronous Ruby and XML

APAX -  asynchronous Python and XML

APhpAX - asynchronous PHP and XML

Overheard: Silverlight demo by Forrest Key (Microsoft)

Overheard: Linux developers dancing in the Moonlight

We are formalizing a collaboration between Microsoft and Novell with the explicit purpose of bringing Silverlight to Linux and do this in a fully supported way. This is an historical collaboration between an open source project and Microsoft. They have collaborated with other folks on the server space (Xen and PHP) but this is their first direct contribution to the open source desktop. Miguel de Icaza, Microsoft/Novell Collaboration on Silverlight.