Microsoft Silverlight support ends October 12, 2021: here is what you need to know
Microsoft will end support for all versions of the Silverlight development framework on October 12, 2021. Silverlight applications, which are still supported by the company's web browser Internet Explorer 11, will continue to work after end of support but Microsoft won't produce updates of any kind for the technology anymore.
The official Silverlight hub on the Microsoft website has a banner at the top that reminds users visiting it about the upcoming end of support.
Silverlight is not available anymore already on Mac OS devices, and browser makers such as Google or Mozilla removed support for Silverlight in their browsers in 2015 and 2017 respectively.
Microsoft's Edge browser does not support Silverlight, but the integrated IE Mode of the browser supports it. Internet Explorer 11, which is set to be retired on June 15, 2022, is the only browser that supports it natively. After June 15, 2022, Microsoft Edge's IE Mode is the only official option that users have to run Silverlight applications.
Applications that rely on Silverlight will continue to function. Microsoft notes on the official FAQ page that it "is not planning to take any specific action to terminate Silverlight applications". Companies can continue to run Silverlight assets legally after October 12, 2021 according to Microsoft, as the license is not tied to the continuation of support.
The official Silverlight website will remain available, but Microsoft will remove the Silverlight installer from the website after the end of support date.
Open Source Silverlight alternative
In 2020, the OpenSilver project emerged to provide companies with a modern Silverlight implementation based on modern technologies. The developers behind the project have relased OpenSilver 1.0 Beta recently and revealed plans to release the final version of OpenSilver 1.0 on October 12, 2021.
Designed specifically for companies that use legacy Silverlight applications, OpenSilver may be used to migrate legacy Silverlight applications without losing access to the application or the functionalities it provides.
Closing Words
Most Silverlight applications that are still in use today are used by organizations and companies. It is rare to find a Silverlight application on the Internet that is still maintained and used, and most Internet users have probably not encountered one in a long while, especially since support has been limited to Internet Explorer 10/11 and Microsoft Edge in IE Mode for a long time.
Now You: when was the last time you used a Silverlight application?
I only ever used Silverlight for streaming Netflix.
Then Netflix stopped using Silverlight, so I didn’t really need it anymore.
The Zune of development platforms.
I laughed harder than I should have at this comment, well said.
I never really understood what it did beyond reappearing every time I deleted it. Didn’t make any difference in browsing enabled or disabled.
Development, except for the recent Brand X effort, ended in 2012. I’ve had IE disabled for a year or so, will believe the 2022 termination date when it happens.
https://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/forum/all/is-there-a-way-to-tell-if-my-computer-uses/0128e219-8e92-4bf4-a30e-9fdd89c064d9
I never used Silverlight after I discovered that it was using my camera to spy on me.
Silverlight never stood a chance against Flash.
Sometimes it makes me wonder why would Microsoft even invest into making it and trying to compete against Flash when Flash had already completely taken over the web.
It was the same with Windows Phone when Android and iPhone had already taken over the market. The only way Microsoft could have some remote success in the mobile market would have been if they used Android and put their own spin (UI, pre-installed apps) on it so people can just use Google Play and still get all the apps they want and need while being in Microsoft’s ecosystem.
Why? To control the internet. With 90% userbase of the closed source Internet Explorer, closed source ActiveX, closed source Silverlight and closed source Windows Media codecs.
“This site works better with Internet explorer=Windows”….
I am so glad the lost the browser wars and I can today enjoy any site in any os.
Windows Phone was amazing, and I had high hopes for it. Too bad Microsoft has always been so half hearted about it from the start, which partly explains the platform’s failure.
Good point regarding silverlight vs flash. But I have to disagree about Windows Phone. At that time Android was not as powerfull as now, and MS had (and I believe it still has) competence, people to present a viable alternative. And windows phone was better, as was symbian or blackberry at their prime. What google/android had/has? Much better PR, access to customers, channels and completely no remorse when it comes to earning money. Do you recall how agressively was Chrome promoted? Bundled with adobe reader, flash and lots of other software. Better product does not always win the stage, and especially if its more expensive. What we have now with android is utterly segmented system, security still shitty after so many revisions, no transparency when it comes to privacy (while MS does telemetry but is clear about it and provides means to turn it off, or even products like enterprise versions without it), google play with millions of crap-aps without real control. And there is Apple, even worse. MS, Nokia clearly lost smartphone market.
one word : Balmer