A Silverlight version of Semblio would make this a viable platform for cross-platform and light deployment scenarios. Having .NET 3.5SP1 and local resource storage requirements is a significant barrier that prevents many, including me, from spending serious time examining and using this tool.
Many of our corporate clients do not have .NET 3.5, let alone SP1 installed locally. Most K-16 clients have a mix of Windows and Macintosh labs and laptops. It is a rare situation where installation of both software and framework are allowed by teachers or content providers without a significant amount of effort and time getting through IT red tape.
With the death of Authorware and the emergence of WPF and XAML for a new age of UI goodness, this toolset could fill a gap and really take off. Removing the technical barriers and requirements of WPF/3.5SP1 would be a huge help in this regard. It might start as "Semblio Light" but a community or mini-industry could come up around it.
I second this opinion. We face the same situation and here is how it games out. We love the idea of WPF / Silverlight over Flash. We love to work with MS products. We live in the here and now and as such have to make real proposals to clients that face the issues that babernethy presented We love the idea of Semblio and we have no doubt that some of these issues will be solved in the future. Our alternatives are to stick with Flash and wait, build Semblio Light or Lobby MS to build Semblio Light and integrate it with their tools over time. Our organization would be very happy to create a "Silverlight eLearning SDK" and in fact we already have a prototype. But this is a slippery, inefficient slope. It will be costly to keep pace as Semblio gets more $ put against it and therefore more authoring functionality and integration. The cost will likely be a bad investment as MS will inevitably produce a Silverlight version or at least solve the problems. I think a great solution is a middle ground where MS and its partners face this issue openly and work together to create a convergence strategy. The strategy would: Allows partners to serve the span of their clients using a combination of WPF & Silverlight. Protecting the partners from making dead-end investments. Support the overall goals of MS I fully agree with babernethy that a mini-industry will inevitable form if this is not addressed and the result will dilute the efforts of Semblio. The partner energy put against an unmanaged branching could be better put against producing great content and adding to the momentum of MS in Education.
I second this opinion. We face the same situation and here is how it games out.
Our organization would be very happy to create a "Silverlight eLearning SDK" and in fact we already have a prototype. But this is a slippery, inefficient slope.
I think a great solution is a middle ground where MS and its partners face this issue openly and work together to create a convergence strategy. The strategy would:
I fully agree with babernethy that a mini-industry will inevitable form if this is not addressed and the result will dilute the efforts of Semblio. The partner energy put against an unmanaged branching could be better put against producing great content and adding to the momentum of MS in Education.
One of the reasons we picked WPF for our first version was the support for richer font set, including ClearType and Flow Documents - something we felt made a richer reading experience for digital textbooks. Additionally WPF offers the ability to build 3D interactive simulations that engages the students. Having said that, we are concious of supporting K-16 Mac deployments and are considering various options as part of our future plans.
Thanks.
We agree with your choice of WPF and the direction of the product. The flow documents, printing support, font support, 3D all are considerable advantages over Silverlight 2. As is the alignment with Office and the control afforded by the out of browser player. Microsoft is doing a great job with Semblio and we will sell it aggressively.
Our business still needs to have a solution when a client says no to any of the constraints of WPF. We could stay in flash or build Silverlight content without a defined architecture, but if we can span the two Microsoft technologies in a (hopefully) portable way then we are future proofing our clients investment and focusing our competencies on Microsoft products.
Thus we have defined a simple strategy. I thought we would share it in hopes it might spark some more dialogue. Here it is:
- Support Semblio (WPF) wherever it can meet the client requirements and the client agrees.
- Support Silverlight as our content development platform where Semblio is not a match.
- Try to align our Silverlight SDK with the Semblio SDK architecture in the hopes of gaining some efficiency in the reuse of our work between the two and some portability to a possible Semblio Silverlight release by Microsoft.
- If and when Microsoft does release a Silverlight version of Semblio, offer our clients a service to port anything done in our Silverlight SDK to the Microsoft version and phase out our SDK.
So my questions are:
Are other partners facing the same strategic issue? Any strategies?
Since it is a given that some developers will use Silverlight to develop eLearning, is it strategically better for Microsoft to have that effort somewhat aligned with the architecture of Semblio?
Is a community Silverlight eLearning SDK aligned with Semblio an option? It sure would be a savings for us as we don’t want to be in the sdk / tool business, but we are not sure how else to intelligently bridge the gap for our customers.
Are we addressing a non-issue and the Silverlight version has a near term timeline? In know this probably wont get substantially answered but I figure I will keep asking :)
In my opinion support for ClearType and 3D does not justify the reduction in the potential audience. Ubiquity of access is a driving force for content. This is not a Mac vs. PC issue (though there are plenty of Macs in K12 to be sure). Educators want to be able to access content from home, on their phones, etc. Basically, the more locations and devices the better. It's strange to have such a great environment like Silverlight and not leverage it.
Anyway, Semblio seems like a really nice initiative, but until there is a web-based version its a non-starter for us.
I completely agree with MatthewWebster and MichaelLoynd. Ubiquity of access to content, and most specificly, the ability to deliver Sembilio learning content via the web outweighs all other design concerns IMHO... from a developer perspective. The inability to do this is a show-stopper and misses the mark big time, forcing the larger .Net developer community to resort to hybrid and home-grown approaches or turn away from this segment entirely. With the Semblio SDK, Microsoft has a unique opportunity to explode in the Education space.
From recent research and reading other posts, I am left wondering if Microsoft has finished organizing itself about this segment. In one recent post (http://cs.mseducommunity.com/forums/p/351/556.aspx#556) Chris Johnson from Microsoft [seems] unaware of Microsoft's SCORM-compliant Learning Content Development System (https://www.microsoft.com/learning/en/us/training/lcds.aspx#tab1). In this and another post (http://cs.mseducommunity.com/forums/p/430/559.aspx#559) there seems to be no excitement or interest from Microsoft in making certain that Semblio content can be accessed via web browser... delivered from a web server. In another post (http://cs.mseducommunity.com/forums/p/609/727.aspx#727) SCORM compliance seems not to be important. This leaves me wondering how the Semblio SDK (and its output aligns) to Microsoft's now open source Sharepoint Learning Kit (at http://www.microsoft.com/education/slk.mspx and http://www.codeplex.com/Wiki/View.aspx?ProjectName=SLK).
So, in the interest of investing resources & planning roadmaps wisely, the question I have is this...
When we speak of a "Silverlight version", are we really talking about a Silverlight version of the Semblio player/viewer control? It would be able to be placed on a web page in design-time just like other Silverlight web controls and access Semblio content, perhaps by way of AJAX or streaming, stored behind a web server. I guess what would remain after that is enabling Semblio content packages to somehow be accessible via AJAX or streaming. Am I on the right track? This could take care of content licensing concerns as well... build content once, share with or sell to many... and induce developers to create lots of Senblio content.
Community, please chime in with some commentary. Let me know your thoughts.
- Randolph
Thank you all for your well-reasoned posts. We’ve heard loud and clear the need for ubiquity in access to content, most recently from the educators and IT pros at NECC.
Silverlight is a very good way to achieve access via the web while retaining the richness you can build with WPF. When we first started the Semblio project (back when it was Grava) Silverlight was new and had a number of limitations that prevented us from banking on it. Subsequent releases of Silverlight have made it far better for delivering educational material.
MichaelLoynd says much of what we’ve been thinking – we need a way to deliver the very best that WPF has to offer to education when the customer is capable of receiving it, but have a good alternative solution for situations where there are limitations. Throughout our development process our objective for Semblio has stayed the same: making a way for more engaging education material to be created at scale, and expanding the opportunities for teachers and specialists to participate. If we can do this in Silverlight we’re all for it.
Right now we are investigating how and when we can use Silverlight as an output format for Semblio. We expect to be able to share this roadmap with the community soon. So the best I can say right now is “stay tuned.” But rest assured we understand the situation.
Thanks,
Jeff
Hi Jeff,
We have not heard anything lately regarding Semblio and Silverlight so I thought I might just fan the fire again.. Is there anything new you can share regarding the possibility of:
If you cannot share yet, any idea when you could?
Regards,
Mike Loynd
Mike,
Theres been plenty of talk around this, but no firm plans as of yet. There are obviously quite a few reasons to move towards a web/silverlight based platform.
Thanks!!
Mark
Mark Woodlief (Leszynski Group Inc)Semblio Tech EvangelistRedmond, WA
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