It was only three years ago that myself and a couple of colleagues wrote the paper Flex, Silverlight or HTML5? Time To Decide. At the time developers were struggling to choose between mature and reliable Flex, Microsoft-backed newcomer Silverlight, and young upstart HTML5.
Now just three years later Flex and Silverlight are dead and you would be foolish to choose anything other than HTML5!
The problem is, HTML5 didn’t emerge as the winner because it is a superior technology (for enterprise-scale applications), or had better tooling. HTML5 won because it is the only technology with a ‘reach’ that encompasses desktop, tablets, smartphones and all the other ‘smart’ devices that will no doubt follow.
Enterprise application development is certainly no easier with HTML5 than it is with Flex and Silverlight. In fact the truth is that most developers find it a lot harder. Probably the greatest challenge that developers face when transitioning to HTML5 is that it is not a shrink-wrapped solution. In order to write enterprise-scale applications you face a bewildering array of technical choices and an equal number of pitfalls.
This white paper identifies the numerous challenges and offers practical advice. If you are interested, it can be freely downloaded in PDF format.
Regards, Colin E.
I am CTO at Scott Logic and am a prolific technical author, blogger and speaker on a range of technologies.
My blog includes posts on a wide range of topics, including Generative AI, WebAssembly, HTML5 / JavaScript and data visualisation. You'll also find a whole host of posts about previous technology interests including iOS, Swift, WPF and Silverlight.
I lead various open source initiatives within FINOS, which is encouraging open source collaboration in the financial sector. I'm also very active on GitHub, contributing to a number of different projects.