Why the hype?
A blog from Tiago Pinto
- Posted on Sep 21, 2009 at 19:10
- Tagged dumb, flash, portugueseweb, ria, silverlight, superbock
- Comments 8 (view/add your own)
Silverlight may not be the best choice
Super Bock, a portuguese beer brand launches a new search engine for movies and cinema sessions. And does it using Silverlight, probably “sold” to them as “the new, oh so cool technology for the web. Better than flash.”
According to Rich Internet Application Statistics, 30% of the browsers they analyze have Silverlight, which is oh so little when compared to the 98% of Flash.
There’s definitely an “asshole in charge” situation over here. Probably, nobody in the agency said “only 30% of the web will see this a-lot-of-thousand-euros-website you’re paying for” to the manager at Super Bock, so there’s our asshole. If they did, the asshole is obviously working at Super Bock.
That’s like selling their beer only to people born between January and April. Yes, that dumb. That’s just one of the problems with Web agencies forgetting about Strategy and doing just Development and Design; they forget about 70% of the people browsing the web.
That’s also the problem with companies that still don’t get the Web. For them, it is a playground where they can run a couple of experiences and choose to have a cool website, instead of a functional one that can reach to more clients.
EDIT:
Some made me realize I was being too harsh with my third paragraph. Yes, I am. It isn’t intended to insult no one, it’s just one of the ways I have to explain my opinion.
If it is too hard to read, skip it or read this version instead:
Someone’s made a mistake here. If the guys over Super Bock specifically asked for a Silverlight website, probably they weren’t aware that they were preventing 70% of the users visiting the site. The mission of the agency is alerting the client about these problems and not only accepting the work and getting paid for it.
Again, sorry if someone felt insulted by my words.
Comments on this entry
Hi there! How’s things? Long time no see.
I was lead developer on this project. I believe in Silverlight, but that’s not the point of my comment. I’ll do a more complete post about this in my blog.
SuperBock has two other search engines for cinema (one in flash in the home page, another in html and jquery). I don’t know if the Silverlight one is supposed to replace the others, and honestly I don’t see the point in anticipating if it does or doesn’t. That’s their decision.
IMHO, the Silverlight one has a great user experience. Each of the 3 cinema search engines has a different goal.
My only criticism to your post is the lack of knowledge and facts to backup such an harsh judgement. I enjoyed reading it (I really did), but THE ONLY FACT in it is the silveright market share being around 30 % at the time. keep in mind that it’s a new technology, it’s growing FAST.
The rest is no more than merely speculative thoughts of how you think the business relation works. I wasn’t expecting this kind of vagueness from someone like you.
But, overall, thank you very much for your point of view. Take it easier the next time ;)
Cheers,
Posted by Ricardo Fiel, 5 months agoRicardo
I think superbock also sells beer to people who never had drink beer before… so they can use silverlight for people who doesn’t have it installed on their machine..
both processes are fast: installing silverlight is as fast as opening a cold bottle of beer for the first time. enjoy the experience
cheers.
Posted by Goalkeeper, 5 months agoyou should also take into account that superbock also sells beer to people who have Sagres, Heineken at home.
Posted by pedro salgado, 5 months agoWhat’s the problem of having a silverlight application for those who already have flash… if the experience is good, people will install it.
Just tried and:
Microsoft Silverlight may not be supported on your computer’s hardware or operating system.
I guess no beer for me…
Posted by Andre, 5 months agoHello all. This post was by no means an attack to fullsix. There are a lot of bad, half-assed websites done by portuguese agencies to portuguese clients. I wish I could give the same time and attention to each one.
Ricardo: About Silverlight’s market share being my only argument, that’s because that really is the major reason I see for not using Silverlight at the moment. I do keep in mind that it is a new technology, but that’s exactly the reason for not using it for public, consumer applications.
Trust me: there’s nothing fundamentalist on my post, neither against Silverlight nor Fullsix. Really.
Thanks for reading my rants, anyway :)
Posted by Tiago Pinto, 5 months agoMy grandpa drinks beer and uses the internet but guess what, he doesn’t know how to install Silverlight! Nor does my brother and some of my friends.. and all of them drink beer.
I really find amusing when some of you say “you just need to install X”. Stop and think about it, you’re all smarter than that!
Posted by Gil Abrantes, 5 months agoWhat about Linux, you fucking Microsoft idiots? There is no Silverlight, only a crappy version of it which has 5% of the performance.
Posted by Zé Macaco, 5 months agothis is spectacular…
Posted by Francisco Costa, 4 months agoonly portuguese people commenting in english…
that’s the spirit!!!
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