Based on reports from people who've seen it in action, the graphics capabilities of Microsoft's Silverlight are superior to those of competing web apps platforms like Adobe Flash/Apollo and JavaFX. So it's no surprise that Microsoft put Silverlight's eye-popping graphics muscle to the fore in its new PopFly mash-up creation tool.
PopFly lets webapp developers build mash-ups of different data services on the web using a shiny, chrome-laden user interface. Microsoft has always produced some of the best developer's tools – that's how they built their huge, loyal developer community. I haven't seen it (PopFly is a closed beta right now), but based on screenshots floating around the blogs, it looks downright slick.
My first thought when I saw the pictures earlier today was, "Oh, it's what Yahoo Pipes would look like if it was on the Xbox."
Robert Scoble puts the power of these visual mash-up creation tools into perspective:
PopFly and visual programming environments like it do a lot to promote these proprietary platforms for webapp development. Apollo and JavaFX are also fighting out in this space to win the loyalty of the web's tinkerers. So here's a question: Do any of these flashy apps (no pun intended) create better, more accessible web services than the good old programmable web?
Pic from TechCrunch's review:
