Microsoft developed Silverlight to be a competitor to flash (and a development extension for .net, javascript and other languages).

Microsoft is experimenting with search and Silverlight on a Web site called Tafiti, which means "do research" in Swahili.

Microsoft uses Silverlight for experimental search site

I don't think it makes a very good front end for a search engine. However, the XAML (it's like XML) that makes up a Silverlight document can be modified at run time (and re-rendered like HTML -- similar to the innerHTML property) which creates a way to create Rich Internet Applications in a way which Flash (at this time) cannot.

Fire Fox is my favorite browser for developing and debugging web applications. It sounds as though Mozilla (the developers of Fire Fox) are making security a priority for 3.0 release.

"The SOAP implementation dropped from Firefox 3 was only available to extension authors, who have many other more modern implementations to choose from," Schroepfer explained. "We are, in general, removing as much old code from the core browser as possible to improve security, reduce download size, and allow Web and extension authors to choose the latest support libraries they need."

Mozilla Aims At Cross-Site Scripting With FF3

If the Fire Fox developers can increase speed & reliability along with security then Fire Fox stands a chance to continue to take market share from Internet Explorer.

Dave Winer (the father of RSS, podcasting, etc) had a great post on what it's like when your product doesn't talk to users (they don't know what do when they first see it).

If you want to make a product that people use then you have to pay attention to their experience when they use it. The better you are at understanding, the better your product will become over time. The inverse it true as well. If you deny the value of feedback, your product will never get better.

How things get better

People who don't develop software don't realize how hard this process is. Iteration (refining the user interface), and user testing can be tedious (and time consuming) but a incredibly helpful in the development process.

It can be difficult to describe rich internet apps (whether they be javascript or flash based) to a client. This article on infoworld has a pretty good definition:

RIAs attempt to combine the strengths of desktop and Web applications without falling prey to their weaknesses. RIAs try to present most of their user interfaces at the client so that they can be responsive and the interface can be as complex as it needs to be. RIAs often do need an installation, but usually only for the runtime engine, which tends to be small and most often updates itself automatically. The RIA application itself typically executes on the remote server.

Application development: The new face of Internet apps

Many companies and organizations have traditional web applications and users are confortable with them. It's important to make easy-of-use and user experience an overridding goal with any Rich Internet Application project.