Silverlight For Ubuntu And Other Linux Distro’s
It’s a real surprise that Microsoft supports a technology that works on Linux. But we don’t have to wonder, since Silverlight as a technology relies on it’s user base to end up as success or failure, it makes perfect sense. And that’s likely the only reason Microsoft has worked with Novell and Mono to create a Silverlight plugin for Linux.
Moonlight is an open source implementation of Silverlight for Linux/Unix systems. It comes in the form of a Firefox plugin, version 2 is currently in beta 3 and available in 32bit and 64bit versions. Simply download the *.xpi to your Firefox plugin directory (if Firefox doesn’t automatically detect and install it correctly for you) and you’re good to go.
So far, Silverlight for Ubuntu has proven to be quite rich in features, based on web applications I’ve seen out there. I was most impressed with financial applications, namely with charting and stock scanning. Based on that, I would expect some apps to appear that rival their desktop versions in power and functionality.
I have come across some sites where the detection of Silverlight is negative, and as a result they keep prompting the user to install Silverlight. As soon as I find a solution or workaround I will update this post. If you’re quicker than me, please post a comment and I will update it with proper credit for others benefit.
I’m also getting a false negative on some websites. A solution would be very useful.