Edge is a new browser. They didn't so much decide to remove Silverlight support as not include it in the first place. Amongst other aspects of this, SL relies on ActiveX technology and MS took the decision not to provide ActiveX capability in Edge. After installing Windows 10 and then going to my website, that uses Silverlight, I find that Microsoft Edge does not support Silverlight. Has Microsoft killed Silverlight? Is there any way to run Silverlight in some add-in that will run in Edge? I have a lot of code invested in Silverlight. Is my only option to rewrite all of my apps?
Microsoft has announced that its new browser in Windows 10, Microsoft Edge, will not support Silverlight.
The Redmond Company previously announced that it is retiring ActiveX, VBScript and other old plugins and Browser Helper Objects.
Microsoft is omitting support for them from Edge, because all of those scripts are outdated, hence deemed unnecessary. The company will instead favor what is now powering a lot of websites and web services, HTML5.
Silverlight will meet the same fate as ActiveX, and this is the official word from the Redmond Company’s Edge team:
“Support for ActiveX has been discontinued in Microsoft Edge, and that includes removing support for Silverlight” says the announcement, “We encourage companies that are using Silverlight for media to begin the transition to DASH/MSE/ CENC/EME based designs and to follow a single, DRM-interoperable encoding work flow enabled by CENC. This represents the most broadly interoperable solution across browsers, platforms, content and devices going forward.”
Microsoft’s article even points out that Google Chrome retired NPAPI in favour of HTML5.
(Netscape Plugin Application Programming Interface)
Silverlight isn’t dead yet:
While Microsoft Edge won’t support it, Silverlight will still work in Windows 10. But it will only work in Internet Explorer 11, and some other applications. This will help in accessing webpages and apps which are based on Silverlight.
Silverlight may be vulnerable:
Microsoft abandoned the development of Silverlight a long time ago. So it will not be receive new updates for improving the plugin software. All it will get is patches for fixing security issues and vulnerabilities
Silverlight is slow and clunky, and its features are quite limited. Most websites have stopped using Silverlight, in favour of more modern scripts. Techspot says that the popular video streaming service, Netflix dropped support for Silverlight back in 2013, and so has many websites.
Why HTML5 is better than Silverlight:
HTML5 is faster and more secure, and has become the new standard for websites. Extension developers and web services are using HTML5. This includes the likes of YouTube. The popular video sharing website, abandoned Adobe Flash Player as its default video player, and upgraded to HTML5, back in January 2015.
HTML5 doesn’t need special tools, a developer can write HTML5 apps using just a text editor.A webpage designed using HTML5 will work differently on other platforms, which actually improves the compatibility across devices, by using a single code. This eases the burden of the web developers. HTML5 based websites also uses less resources compared to pages built with other scripts.
Edge Silverlight Not Working
Silverlight Edge Support
Comments are closed.