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I am wondering: how feasible it would be to start developing a social networking website entirely based on silverlight;

This has been fairly discussed over the years in favor of HTML. Has something changed with silverlight improvements over the years?

What about:

* Performance
  -- active users
  -- technology used, MVVM + MEF (possibility of lags, server memory overflow...)
* Security
  --- WCF Ria Services & EF

What are your thoughts on this subject?

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    Would it be that much different from building it in Flash? I'm serious, I thought that Flash and Silverlight were competing in the same sort of market. If I'm wrong, feel free to correct me... – FrustratedWithFormsDesigner Feb 28 '11 at 15:40
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    if you don't mind me not participating, go ahead. I don't like Flash and I refuse to download yet another browser clog. – Matthieu M. Feb 28 '11 at 20:16

3 Answers3

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Flash is a little bit faster than Silverlight, but I'm sure for your purpose it won't matter that much. Bare in mind though, that making an application in Silverlight restricts your possibilities to extend the platform to certain handhelds. I'm thinking of Android and iPhone..

But Yes, you can use Silverlight, to answer to your question.

Steven Ryssaert
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    Your point about handhelds is a good one, but Flash isn't necessarily a better choice there either, since some devices (i.e. iPhone) don't support it at all and support on others can be flaky. – Adam Lear Feb 28 '11 at 15:56
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you certainly could build it in silverlight (keeping in mind the restrictions with performance, available platforms, etc.) and then if you want it for mobile clients either provide a set of "mobile" pages or custom apps for the various platforms (android, iPhone, etc)

Muad'Dib
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You could, if you want to exclude all the people who are not willing to install any Microsoft stuff on their non-Windows device. These days, a lot of people are not too keen on Flash either. I run away from most flash pages. I would stick to HTML, and wouldn't be afraid to use HTML5 features if needed.

kevin cline
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    This whole, 'not downloading anything from M$' is so tired and a cliche. If you don't want to use it because it's against one of your principles so be it. A **lot** of other people (the majority) enjoy using plugins to extend their web experience. Unity, flash, silverlight, quicktime and more. –  Feb 28 '11 at 20:46
  • @Sergio -- I don't think people 'enjoy using plugins'. They put up with them because they are needed to view content that they do enjoy. And although there is a lot of lots of Flash content, I have yet to encounter any Silverlight content. – kevin cline Mar 01 '11 at 14:25
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    You can't speak for everyone. I loved how much more content Silverlight and Unity enabled for me. Everyone has different views, and believe it or not a lot of non-programmers have no qualms over clicking next, next, next just to see the latest video. –  Mar 01 '11 at 14:41