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Microsoft Dynamics GP 12's Silverlight Plans Unchanged Despite Windows 8 Plug-In Limitations

by Jason Gumpert
Editor, MSDynamicsWorld.com

Microsoft's plans for a Silverlight-based Microsoft Dynamics GP 12 interface that runs in Internet Explorer have appeared to be well received starting at Convergence 2011 in the April.  But in recent weeks, representatives from Microsoft's Windows and Internet Explorer teams have confirmed assumptions that Silverlight and other browser plug-ins will not work in Internet Explorer 10 in the new Metro chrome-less interface of Windows 8.  

So where does this leave GP 12 in relation to Windows 8 and Metro? GP 12 is expected to be released in roughly the same timeframe as Windows 8 in 2012, and according to Errol Schoenfish, director of product management for Dynamics GP, GP 12 will be still offer the Silverlight interface in Internet Explorer as planned.  The Silverlight UI is intended for customers on hosted Dynamics GP solutions as well as remote workers who currently access Dynamics GP's client through Citrix or terminal services.  

Schoenfish described Microsoft's choice of Silverlight with GP 12, even with Windows 8, as the right decision:

"Xaml, the rendering technology of Silverlight, is now part of the Win8 OS.  Porting Silverlight apps to Win8 metro is possible and supported.  This was demo'ed at BUILD last week.  So we are in an excellent position to take advantage of this.  Silverlight as it stands today is considered a "mature" technology.  It doesn't need much more, if anything, added to it to deliver great applications in the browser, so again our investment here was a good choice.

The Metro UI is based on the terms "fast and fluid", and is by design simple, single viewed and chrome-less.  Some applications might not fit into this very well. PhotoShop was an example given at BUILD ...

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Dynamics GP GP 12 HTML5 Metro Windows 8
About Jason Gumpert

As the editor of MSDynamicsWorld.com, Jason oversees all editorial content on the site and at our events, as well as providing site management and strategy. He can be reached at jgumpert@msdynamicsworld.com.

Prior to co-founding MSDynamicsWorld.com, Jason was a Principal Software Consultant at Parametric Technology Corporation (PTC), where he implemented solutions, trained customers, managed software development, and spent some time in the pre-sales engineering organization. He has also held consulting positions at CSC Consulting and Monitor Group.

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