The original v5 beta did not, I don’t think, but sounds like it will now, I’ll update and see.

1) Directly support Linux as fully as they do the Mac OS. Yes, the Mono team will do a good job, but that is an additional delta to deal with every time there’s a new version on Windows, and it’s not like the Mono team is getting paid. I’m sure that the Silverlight team is helping the Mono team out, but it creates a perception, not helped by Ballmer’s big mouth, that Linux is not considered a full player in the Silverlight ecology.

2) Make it easier to host Silverlight content on !Windows servers. That means the ability to host Silverlight without any Windows servers whatsoever. The idea here is to make it as easy as possible to adopt the technology with as little risk as possible. So, open source the code for hosting Silverlight ala Darwin Streaming server. It can’t hurt the bottom line any more than the Xbox team is doing, and it will create considerable good will that Microsoft desparately needs. None of this stupid Shared Source license. Use a BSD license. It’s simpler and more free than the GPL, and far less onerous.

3) Stop hoarding the dev tools. Write Eclipse plugins, Xcode plugins, whatever. Make it so that it’s stinkin’ easy to create and deploy Silverlight content on every platform everywhere, and without the dodge of “Well, you can just write XAML in a text editor. That’s inane and we all know it.

Microsoft wants !Windows people to buy into this idea then we need more than a plugin.

To flip that around, what /could/ Microsoft do in the short run to earn your trust? Realistically, perhaps nothing. Sounds like you’d need to see the initiative prove out over time, and maybe also see the Mono/Moonlight story play out successfully over time. Is that true?

I agree that Silverlight is neat, but with the rather inane things coming out of the mouth of Ballmer with regard to non-windows users over the last few years, the delta on Moonlight, and the history of Microsoft towards such things, *why* would I go with Silverlight, and a Windows – only set of dev tools instead of an open standard like MPEG 4? Even Flash is more open than Silverlight is, and while Adobe does some pretty stupid stuff, vaguely threatening potential users with lawsuits hasn’t been one of them.

The tech is only part of the package.

Note that there is no IE requirement. Silverlight works with IE, Firefox, and Safari on Windows and Mac. If the Mono-based Moonlight pans out, it’ll do the same on Linux.