Most people are aware by this point that Microsoft has released their Flash competitor, Silverlight.
The problem I have with Silverlight is that I can’t find any good examples of websites or other interactive demos (other than the kick-ass ones Schematic has created).
Can anyone point me in the direction of Silverlight examples that aren’t video players? The examples that they show on Silverlight.net are horrendous and basically reinforce the fact that Microsoft is a company driving technology for technology’s sake – they don’t care about good Design (capital ‘D’), they’re technocrats.
Microsoft is trying to play catch up, but they don’t seem to care about the end user and designing experiences or applications that will benefit them. We’re also seeing this echoed their other ‘later runner’ products like Zune and Windows Vista (people are actually opting to downgrade back to Windows XP). Everything seems to be a day late and a dollar short.
Should we care about Silverlight? If so why?
Why should I as a interactive designer use Microsoft Blend over Adobe Flash? (ignore the fact that I’m on OS X)
In industry where Adobe Flash dominates online video and rich interactive applications (Youtube wouldn’t exist without Flash video) and designers and developers work well with the application – what is Microsoft bringing to the table that is innovative?
I think its important to open up discussion on topics like this instead of blindly accepting new technologies.
Have comments? Post em below.

The Barbarians Are At The Gate, But Microsoft Moves To Protect Office Revenues – By their very nature, corporations like Microsoft are not capable of taking risks in the name of innovation – unless they are creating a new paradigm or a new market.
Microsoft realizes that Google Docs – available online and free – is a threat to its Office suite of products (primarily Word & Excel). In response, they’re ramping up for their own online versions of their products, but they’re not getting it right:

Microsoft is falling into the classic trap of failing to realize the disruptive nature of a new competitive technology, instead focusing on the massive revenues it generates from their aging Office suite.

Someone makes a good point in the comments of this article, “You realize if Microsoft shipped a full online Office product, they would cannibalize themselves, right?”
This comment is true, but an online Office product would only cannibalize themselves if they remained entrenched in their current business model. Short term, this is the easier path to take, but long term, Microsoft shouldn’t expect its products to be viewed as relevant or useful.
Contrast this screw-up by Microsoft with the risk Apple is taking with the iPhone. One of the reasons Apple is able to dive into the mobile industry is because they’re being disruptive and establishing a new paradigm. Aside from the innovative Visual Voicemail, Apple is not locked into any crappy AT&T specific services for broadband, games or anything. You sync your iPhone with iTunes, which not only allows you to sync music and video content, but also patches bugs and adds new features. AT&T is simply a communication connection – as it should be.
Apple also don’t have any presence in this market, so like Dylan said, when you got nothin’, you got nothin’ to lose.
Of course this is only partly true. Apple could have lost years and years of preparation and research and tens of millions of dollars that went into making the iPhone …but that’s why it’s called taking a risk.
Risks have potentially huge payoffs.
I love the comment Paul Arden makes in his book, Whatever You Think, Think the Opposite:

Most people are reasonable, that’s why they only do reasonably well.

If you look hard, there’s actually a lot of amazing things happening in the world besides celebrities wiping their asses and speculation on non-existent gadgets.
MS to sell XP until June 2008 after Vista backlash – Imagine you release a product update that is so good that consumers opt for the older version. Well done Microsoft. Let me know how that ‘Silverlight‘ experiment goes too.
Blast from the Past: The Apple Store Online – Andy Rutledge thinks the new online store sucks? Rutledge is spot on with most of his critiques, but in this one he’s wrong (unless he’s being facetious and I’m not catching it).
Amazon MP3 Store – iTunes rocks, but competition is healthy. Amazon has taken a great step in a great direction for digital music.
Palm Centro – A day late and a dollar short.

Fast Company – Masters of Design – This issue is all about design, I mean Design. As in the big picture Design (thanks Jory).

Analogue launches the new Rita Hazan website in collaboration with Kate Schelter. I think they make a good team, this site is beautiful and easy to use.
Great photography can really elevate a project, can’t it?
Of course, so can great design and development.
Alright, I guess you need it all.

These are from the QBN Sessions (via NewsToday)

Michael Muller – “And that is Batman smoking crack.”

Joshua Davis – “I’m somewhat responsible for what you’re seeing on screen …but there’s a lot of loss of control.”

When we make decisions in our lives, we all carry with us tons of opinions, ideas, memories and associations. Some of these we’re aware of, and some are subconscious.
A phenomenon that I always find interesting is cryptomnesia:

It refers to cases where (apparently) a person believes that he or she is creating or inventing something new, such as a story, poem, artwork, or joke, but is actually recalling a similar or identical work which he or she has previously encountered.

I don’t know if the creators of Absolut Brasil were aware of their influences, but they are apparent:
Absolut Brasil

iTunes (showing Coverflow view)

It’s important to note that the CoverFlow technology not developed by Apple, but by Jonathan del Strother. I’d be curious to find out what del Strother’s inspiration was for CoverFlow.

WindowShade X – It’s not that the ‘genie’ minimize effect isn’t effective in OS X, it’s just not my style. Call me old-fashioned, but I still like the window shade ‘snap’ of the old OS 9. I’ve been using WindowShade X for years now.
Paths of Resistance in the East Village – As someone who’s fascinated with the history of New York in general including the Beat Generation and also lived in the East Village for almost 5 years, I could relate to a lot of the points made in this article. Its sad to see landmarks get replaced by premium condos and banks.
Here’s the accompanying video, Art and Unrest in the East Village


Matchbook Museum – amazing little gems (found via Monoscope)

Man, what a great video:

Our CEO at Schematic, Trevor Kaufman, just sent out an email this morning announcing that Schematic was acquired by WWP.
All in all it sounds like a win-win. Obviously being part of a publicly-traded company brings with it some responsibilities, like meeting financial expectations every year, but how is that a bad thing? We just have to focus on continuing to produce amazing work (that’s why we were acquired in the first place).
Some of you out there who work at creative/ad/interactive agencies might not even know you’re owned by WWP as well. Here’s all the companies under the WWP umbrella. Ogilvy, Addison, Y&R, Grey Worldwide, JWT, Landor… the list goes on. Damn.

I spend a lot of time online. Even as I work during the day in my design applications, I’m constantly checking my NewsFire RSS application for news. Despite great simplicity of RSS feeds, the NYTimes.com has many features that you can only take advantage of by going to the actual site.
The NYTimes.com really seems to ‘get’ the internet way better than most other news and newspaper sites. The site is well-designed, and by this I mean the underlying structure of the site, where things are positioned, image/text relationships, proportions and information heirarchy.
The style of the site is equally beautiful. The style of the site includes the color palette, grid treatment (the Times chose to expose most of their grid), fonts and photography.
Here’s a few gems I came across this morning:

Making the Cover


Records From a History of Hardship


Behind the Facades

I’m heading back to school this fall.
Starting next week I’ll be teaching the Motion Design course with Brenda McManus at Rutgers University – Newark campus.
I’m excited because it focuses on storyboarding and concepting as well as execution within Adobe Flash. Learning an application is important, but its the conceptual skills that will get you jobs in the creative field.
Brick City, here I come.

A big round of applause to Schematic LA for their great work on the new Schematic website.
It’s in Flash 9, written in AS3, supports browser history (and back button), its friendly with mobile browsers, and search engine optimized. We even have a new showreel included. It’s got a few kinks in it, so if you see something funky, let them know by clicking on the BETA button on the homepage.
Go team!

Wet woman. Fluids splashing all over …and she tells me she wants me all over her.
Man, advertising is funny.