Silverlight Vs. Electron.io

Explore why Electron is a better platform to migrate your Silverlight applications.

Software migration is a necessity in this rapidly evolving world of technologies. Almost every day,a technology gets obsolete and a new one emerges. There is no generic approach in software migration as the process varies with each technology and based on the requirements.

This blog discusses why Electron is a better platform to migrate your Silverlight applications to.

What is Silverlight?

Silverlight is a cross-browser and cross-platform plugin service introduced by Microsoft 2007 to compete with Adobe’s Flash Player and Apple’s Quickplayer. It is a pioneering plugin technology to create Rich Internet Application (RIA) which is more interactive and responsive with less loading time.

When the technology was getting traction in the market in 2010, Apple invented the iPad and prohibited browser plugins on iOS. And this is how Silverlight started to die slowly.

Microsoft is on its way to rolling back all support for Silverlight by the year 2021. Hence, it is essential to shift all your Silverlight applications to a better technology.

What are the features that make Silverlight standout

• Ability to implement .NET code without using the .NET runtime
• Support for high-quality videos
• Supports cross-platform and cross-browser applications
• Developers can use Visual Studio for application development.
• Most inexpensive video streaming technology
• Backs third-party languages including Ruby, Python, EcmaScript, etc.
• Provisions remote debugging and provides copy protection

Being an excellent plugin service, Silverlight gives attractive and more responsive user interface to its websites. If you want to shift your Silverlight applications without hampering the UI, then Electron is a suitable framework due to its major advantages:

Github introduced Electron as an open-source software framework for making a graphical user interface for both front & back end. Some of the popular applications created using electron are Skype, Github Desktop, Flow, Ghost, WebTorrent, JIBO, Slack, Wordpress.com, Atom, etc.

• Electron is a cross-platform software framework that makes it easy to develop applications for Windows, Mac, and Linux.
• Electron is an OS-neutral framework and it (electron application) doesn’t need custom code for specific OS deployment. Thus, it saves operating costs.
• You don’t need a separate team to develop electron applications. If you know HTML and JavaScript, you can easily create electron application for all OSs.
• Electron application acquires system level access by using Node.JS i.e. file system, system resources, Menu, Notification, Shortcuts, etc. It empowers the electron applications to run on desktops with easy integration.
• You can develop electron applications that are compatible with webcam, printer, and barcode scanner.
• Electron applications can be auto-updated. You can develop applications that can be auto-updated remotely.
• You can create electron applications with Test Driven Development (TDD) approach which allows creating high-quality applications.

Starting from a cross-platform to an auto-update framework, Electron is a full-fledged platform which can do justice to the Silverlight applications. It also reduces development cost and helps to create flawless applications.

Having said so, migrating your existing web services is an expert function, which needs guidance from experienced individuals. Do make sure that you have a team of expert developers who could make your migration seamless, while retaining the flexibility features that the newer technology provides.

Conclusion

Clarion has been working with Frontend development technologies for over a decade. A few of our technical expertise encompasses Web development (.Net, ASP, AngularJS), Mobile development, Cloud & Strategy development, Internet of Things, Analytics & BI, Application Testing and Agile Project Management. If you need any assistance with your Website migration, do feel free to reach out to us with your requirements and we would be glad to assist you.