Adobe AIR vs. Microsoft Silverlight

Overview
ProductRatingMost Used ByProduct SummaryStarting Price
Adobe AIR
Score 7.8 out of 10
N/A
N/AN/A
Microsoft Silverlight
Score 3.4 out of 10
N/A
Microsoft's Silverlight is a development tool.N/A
Pricing
Adobe AIRMicrosoft Silverlight
Editions & Modules
No answers on this topic
No answers on this topic
Offerings
Pricing Offerings
Adobe AIRMicrosoft Silverlight
Free Trial
NoNo
Free/Freemium Version
NoNo
Premium Consulting/Integration Services
NoNo
Entry-level Setup FeeNo setup feeNo setup fee
Additional Details——
More Pricing Information
Community Pulse
Adobe AIRMicrosoft Silverlight
Top Pros
Top Cons
Best Alternatives
Adobe AIRMicrosoft Silverlight
Small Businesses
Visual Studio
Visual Studio
Score 9.0 out of 10
Visual Studio
Visual Studio
Score 9.0 out of 10
Medium-sized Companies
Visual Studio
Visual Studio
Score 9.0 out of 10
Visual Studio
Visual Studio
Score 9.0 out of 10
Enterprises
Visual Studio
Visual Studio
Score 9.0 out of 10
Visual Studio
Visual Studio
Score 9.0 out of 10
All AlternativesView all alternativesView all alternatives
User Ratings
Adobe AIRMicrosoft Silverlight
Likelihood to Recommend
5.7
(9 ratings)
1.0
(4 ratings)
Usability
7.0
(1 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
User Testimonials
Adobe AIRMicrosoft Silverlight
Likelihood to Recommend
Adobe
I would recommend [Adobe AIR] because it works very well, I just wish there were more resources out there on it to help the onboarding.
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Microsoft
The Silverlight plug-in means developers can target a single, consistent runtime for browser-based apps, rather than working with the complexity of multiple browsers in different versions. You also get video and multimedia effects that are hard or impossible with pure HTML and JavaScript, though Adobe Systems' Flash has the same advantages.
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Pros
Adobe
  • Adobe AIR supports a lot of commonly needed features for mobile app development.
  • It is fairly stable and consistent once you learn how to use it.
  • It is cross-platform and is supported by some useful third-party plugins.
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Microsoft
  • Easy to implement
  • No need for additional frameworks on client side
  • Out of browser capabilities
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Cons
Adobe
  • Over the course of months/years, various security exploits and other issues are discovered and patched in AIR, often requiring you to rebuild and resubmit mobile apps to the various storefronts. This happens often enough that it's worth mentioning as a major con.
  • While development on Adobe AIR seems to be fairly constant, there is very little communication between the community and Adobe regarding the future and general support of AIR. The track record of Flash (and particularly Flash Mobile) does not inspire much confidence that Adobe intends to support Flash/AIR for years to come.
  • Adobe AIR does not seem to perform as well (in terms of raw performance, memory usage, framerates, responsiveness, etc.) as other hybrid solutions for certain tasks. For example using shaders tends to be experimental still, and graphic/animation intensive projects often require the use of third party frameworks such as Starling.
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Microsoft
  • No longer being supported
  • No upkeep with ria services
  • Be nice to work in a modern browser
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Usability
Adobe
Although Adobe AIR is just an SDK without an actual "UI" it's commonly used within Flash, Flash Builder, or FlashDevelop. Considering the integration with Flash IDE, there are very few tools that can compete with its features.
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Microsoft
No answers on this topic
Alternatives Considered
Adobe
Originally, Adobe AIR was the only game in town, and its blend of flexibility in platforms it could publish to (PC, Mac, iOS, Android), ease of use, and familiarity made it the clear choice. Now Adobe no longer supports it, and we’ve found the transition to Harmon unworkable for us.
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Microsoft
Microsoft Silverlight allows more adaptability and it integrates well with our products across the company. Adobe Flash crashes or doesn't work with our shipping campus.
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Return on Investment
Adobe
  • Allows easy porting of functionality and look and feel to many diverse platforms.
  • Shorten development and deployment time.
  • Reduced training and support costs by re-using common widgets.
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Microsoft
  • Increased lecture delivery
  • Improved academic experience
  • Less A/V tech support and delay
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ScreenShots