Hi,
I was wondering why you would still use ASP over Silverlight, since with silverlight there is a lot you can do already. And you dont have to use css, jquery, js, html, etc.
Also with silverlight you can do a call to the database via ria service.
I can only think of 1 reason which is, that not every one has the plugin installed. But thats just a matter of time.
Just curious how you guys think of this subject.
You've basically answered your own question there - not everyone has the plugin. Especially in the business world where upgrading and adoption of new technologies can charitably be described as sluggish.
Silverlight's overall penetration has grown significantly over the past year, but that growth is not spread evenly across sectors.
As you say, it's just a matter of time.
@Andy almost answers it right.
The answer is simple: Silverlight is never going to be universal, not ever (the same is true of Flash). It may be that it achieves a very high level of availability - at least on personal computers - but even then its would be rash to assume that everyone has it.
So you have to make a value judgement - will sufficient of your target audience have (or be willing to install) the plug-in required to allow your application to run? There are good reasons to want to build an application with Silverlight - I'm not knocking the technology.
But - again - the simple answer is that using ASP.NET (or php or whatever) you can render plain HTML (with or without CSS and Javascript) and therefore will have as close to something that is universally accessible as it is possible to get.
The answer is a little bit more complex IMHO. Silverlight is brilliant for developing applications, so if you are doing an application you should consider it. A lot of what you do is more like producing documents and reports however. For such situations, Silverlight is the wrong answer. For one, it takes more effort to do it in SL than just straight HTML. The fact that you also lose a part of the audience using SL is then an additional reason not to use SL.
So, the answer you need to answer is "Is this an end-user application or a document". For apps use SL/Flex/GWT for documents use HTML.
In general, I think a lot of the arguments for "Desktop app vs. Web app" are going to apply SL. You could very well ask the same question, "Why would you ever use silverlight instead of a click-once application?"
As an aside, silverlight isn't the first thing of it's kind. Before it there was Java applets, flash, and even javascript frameworks to make rich client side interaction possible within a browser. Currently Silverlight competes in the corporate sector with Adobe Flex, which also is showing potential.
In the end, HTML is always there. All of these technologies ride in on HTML, so there is no danger of HTML becoming outdated anytime soon.