Cloud Computing: Silverlight | Flash | Google

All the major players are getting their hands in the pot.  Microsoft is working on Live Mesh, as a starting point to their cloud computing platform; Apple has MobileMe, which is more just a service than a platform; and Google has all of their javascript web apps (Google Calendar, Google Docs, etc..).

Now, I don’t want to downplay the fact that Google actually provides a more tangible cloud computing experience than anybody right now, but I just don’t think Google is in the right spot.  They’re too focused on Javascript.  The world of the future is not going to run on Javascript – sorry.

The Silverlight vs. Flash showdown is much more interesting, as they both provide a much richer experience.  I have yet to see any large application type experience with Flash, but I know they have a lot going on for them with AIR and Flex.

Silverlight is going to win the battle though.  Microsoft has put themselves in a good position. They started Silverlight and Live Mesh completely separately in the community, but now they are merging into the same accomplishment. They have a cloud computing foundation already set up (Live Mesh, Azure), and it can already run Silverlight Applications.  This is a great start and puts them ahead of the competition.  Live Mesh is still in its very early stages, but we’ll soon see some very exciting stuff.

When I see an iPhone running Silverlight connected to Live Mesh running a real application I’ll know we’re “there”.