Outside of the sports arena, Silverlight also delivered President Obama's in January.

Skelpowich also countered Major League Baseball's claim that comparative adoption rates drove the decision to move MLB.com from Siliverlight to Flash. "While Flash 9 may have high penetration," he wrote, "the Swarmcast NexDef plug-in that helps power MLB's HD experience has virtually no adoption."

Still, even Microsoft only claims a for Silverlight among consumers worldwide. Compared to Adobe's claim of , Microsoft has a long way to go. Sports and special events won't drive everyone on Earth to install and use Silverlight. Microsoft needs to win over sites with a much broader online appeal. I wonder what it would cost to get to switch?