Moonlight Beta, the Microsoft Flash equivalent for Linux users
Microsoft is really not taking it easy at all on Adobe and their Flash player. Proof of that are the recent announcements that 2009 will debut with a third installment of Silverlight, and that Microsoft will continue its collaboration with Novell in order to further develop an open-source Silverlight equivalent that can be used by users running the Firefox browser on their Linux powered machines. The software product is called Moonlight, and at this point in time its development team is ready to release a Beta version to the general public
The two companies, Microsoft and Novell, made the announcement earlier this week when the two former rivals celebrated the two year anniversary of their collaboration. “Customer interest and uptake has far exceeded our expectations. This continued momentum from our strategic relationship with Microsoft is the catalyst driving the innovative solutions and technologies our two companies are announcing today. We’re seeing especially strong demand in the datacenter, where a mixed-source environment is increasingly the norm and where our delivery of true interoperability is compelling,” commented the general manager for global strategic alliances with Novell, Susan Heystee.
A very early Alpha build of the Moonlight software has been in the wild since the middle of 2007. What everybody is anxiously expecting to get is the 1.0 Beta version. According to a statement made by Miguel de Icaza, we are just days away from the Moonlight Beta 1.0 release. It must be noted that the statement was made this month, on the 10th. At this point in time, people that have Firefox installed on their Linux powered machines have only one alternative, and that is to keep using Adobe’s Flash player. Adobe’s software works on both Windows-based operating systems and Linux ones, as opposed to Microsoft’s Silverlight that only works on Windows (the Silverlight/Flash equivalent for Linux is still in its early development phase and since the Beta Moonlight version is not out just yet, we will not take it into consideration).
The two companies, Microsoft and Novell, made the announcement earlier this week when the two former rivals celebrated the two year anniversary of their collaboration. “Customer interest and uptake has far exceeded our expectations. This continued momentum from our strategic relationship with Microsoft is the catalyst driving the innovative solutions and technologies our two companies are announcing today. We’re seeing especially strong demand in the datacenter, where a mixed-source environment is increasingly the norm and where our delivery of true interoperability is compelling,” commented the general manager for global strategic alliances with Novell, Susan Heystee.
A very early Alpha build of the Moonlight software has been in the wild since the middle of 2007. What everybody is anxiously expecting to get is the 1.0 Beta version. According to a statement made by Miguel de Icaza, we are just days away from the Moonlight Beta 1.0 release. It must be noted that the statement was made this month, on the 10th. At this point in time, people that have Firefox installed on their Linux powered machines have only one alternative, and that is to keep using Adobe’s Flash player. Adobe’s software works on both Windows-based operating systems and Linux ones, as opposed to Microsoft’s Silverlight that only works on Windows (the Silverlight/Flash equivalent for Linux is still in its early development phase and since the Beta Moonlight version is not out just yet, we will not take it into consideration).
