
OpenSilver is a modern, plugin-free, open-source reimplementation of Silverlight - LyalinDotCom
https://github.com/OpenSilver/OpenSilver
======
dang
[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=22527481](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=22527481)

The cutoff for reposts is a year or so:
[https://news.ycombinator.com/newsfaq.html](https://news.ycombinator.com/newsfaq.html)

------
danShumway
Really just a minor side note, but I wanted to say that I was surprised and
appreciative to find out that this was rendering real HTML and not just
Canvas.

[http://opensilvershowcase.azurewebsites.net/#/Client_Server](http://opensilvershowcase.azurewebsites.net/#/Client_Server)

Out of the box, the demo is responsive, Ctrl-F search works, zooming in and
out of the browser works, my browser scroll settings and keyboard shortcuts
are supported, I can load custom fonts through browser extensions. It's not
perfect -- buttons are just divs, and there are a lot of divs. But I was
expecting that this would just be a shim around Canvas designed to preserve a
few old projects; I didn't expect the authors to have put the effort in that
they did to do this correctly.

Getting cross-platform WASM toolkits to render to real HTML has kind of been
my personal hill to die on recently, so it's just a pleasant, happy surprise
to load up a cross-platform app and not immediately get a bunch of errors
about how I need to enable WebGL to look at it. If OP or anyone else around
had anything to do with the project itself, I just wanted to say that I
noticed, and thank you for your care and attention to that detail.

~~~
buu700
Slightly off-topic, but your name is a funny coincidence:
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shumway_(software)](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shumway_\(software\))

~~~
danShumway
:) I know, right?

If you want to go a step deeper, Flash was one of the original things that got
me into programming, I currently do web programming, and I found Mozilla's
project looking for that specific thing -- a Flash emulator.

I've thought about trying to be cute and petitioning them to let me take the
name on a fork, but I don't really have any knowledge about writing emulators,
so I unfortunately don't think I would be a particularly good steward or would
have much to add to the project.

And I guess efforts like Mame have come farther with Flash emulation since
then anyway, though I haven't checked in a while.

------
happyweasel
There was this demo written in Silverlight that would basically show the
complete Windows Vista Desktop UX, implemented in Silverlight, with
calculator, explorer, media player.. anyone remember that one? It also ran in
firefox.. I think it was made in slovenia, or so? Can't find it anymore, not
even a video of it.. Update: here is an old link:
[https://savas.me/2007/02/01/amazing-demonstration-of-what-
is...](https://savas.me/2007/02/01/amazing-demonstration-of-what-is-possible-
with-wpfe/)

------
tombert
Maybe someone here can explain it better to me; why was silverlight a thing?

Flash had its problems, but why would anyone instead use another proprietary
system that works on fewer platforms?

~~~
lmkg
The big advantage I could see is that it runs C#, which has broader
application than ActionScript.

My impression is that Silverlight's whole packaging & delivery model was
envisioned to be more wide-spread but didn't take off. Microsoft was thinking
that you could write one program, and then easily package & distribute it as a
web app (via Silverlight), or a Windows Phone app, or a native Windows app, or
an Xbox app. But... Windows Phone died, Xbox never grew from a game platform
into a home multimedia platform, and C# did not achieve popularity for user-
facing desktop apps. Plus Microsoft churned Windows APIs a few times.

I could easily see an alternate present where Silverlight was more successful
for a longer time, if the timing was different or if a few events broke a
different way. But I doubt that alternate present is better than this one.

~~~
cm2187
On C# not achieving popularity for desktop apps, I think the problem is rather
the lack of new desktop apps rather than C#, all new development tends too be
web based even for internal apps. The problem is still deployment. I think
client side blazor has a potential for creating internal applications quickly
with zero deployment required without havint to touch javascript.

~~~
alkonaut
Yeah if you look at business facing apps I think between the apps that can be
web (so they will) and the apps that can't be C# because of perf (games etc)
you have a pretty small selection left. That doesn't mean C# has failed in
that niche, far from it. But it's not a very visible niche because it's not
what consumers use. The use case is bespoke LOB/PoS/Internal apps. Just like
VB.

~~~
cm2187
I agree. But it's not a small segment. It's not very visible from the outside
but the number of internal developers in large companies is huge. And it's a
segment where they don't care so much about load time (intranet, no quick
browsing) and where using the same language for front end and back end is
appealing.

------
ancarda
But why? Re-creating Flash makes sense to me because of the sheer amount of
content, but the only thing I can think of that used Silverlight was Netflix
... years ago.

Is Silverlight really a game changer such that it's worth bringing back from
the dead?

~~~
thelazydogsback
I think Silverlight could have been more of a thing if MS handled their UI
story better -- WPF/Silverlight was great to develop for and it did solve some
problems. I remember that Windows Phone (which also was pretty good) didn't
run Silverlight sites -- I always thought that was the weirdest choice,
because if it did it would have provided a great mobile experience for it's
time.

~~~
JamesNK
The future of Silverlight and Flash died when mobile phones rejected browser
plugins. No amount of good choices from MS/Adobe would change that.

~~~
zoomablemind
Wasn't that the HTML5 which predicated the Flash video demise? Not sure if it
affected Silverlight to the same extent.

Yet, the other day I saw another Flash update pop up on Win 10 laptop in Edge.
I don't even know why it's still needed.... What a strange ritual (now it's
pushidng McAfee along).

Edit: FYI, quoting from the Wired, 2017:

Adobe itself acknowledged the transition [from Flash over to HTML5], though a
bit less bluntly:

“As open standards like HTML5, WebGL and WebAssembly have matured over the
past several years, most now provide many of the capabilities and
functionalities that plugins pioneered and have become a viable alternative
for content on the web.”

[https://www.wired.com/story/adobe-finally-kills-flash-
dead/](https://www.wired.com/story/adobe-finally-kills-flash-dead/)

------
sergiotapia
God I miss the WPF/Silverlight/Windows Phone era. It was peak developer UX and
brought fresh ideas to the table.

Now mobile is all drab flatness. Zero personality. If you have the creative
choices for your apps, please make them have some balls again! Go for it!

~~~
miffy900
This seems like a weird thing to say, considering Windows Phone (specifically
v8) introduced the whole flat-design thing.

------
jeffwilcox
As a former engineer on the Silverlight team, this is enjoyably fun...

------
tluyben2
Looks like Framework and Windows only: not so modern.

------
downerending
May we also have modern reimplementations of Bob and CORBA?

------
cosmotic
What does "modern" mean?

