I’ve never tried Microsoft’s Silverlight, the company’s attempt at popularizing a rich media content web browser plugin. It took Barack Obama’s inauguration to change that.

CNN’s The Moment, which asked people who took pictures right as Obama was sworn in as President, then took the photos and stitched them together into a semi-cohesive virtual world.

The technology driving the stitching process was Microsoft’s PhotoSynth, officially defined as something that “creates 3D spaces from anyone’s 2D photos. The moment of inauguration perfectly shows how the technology can be useful. I really suggest you check it out here.

Of course, you may have to download the 4MB Silverlight installer. Which was fine by me of course, because I wanted to see how the stitch ended up.

And that’s the point. Sometimes coming up with a killer app isn’t enough. Sometimes you have to take advantage of the current situation to create something enticing enough for people to want to use your service.

Now the question is: how can Microsoft turn Photosynth—and Silverlight—into something profitable?

Post from: The Gadget Blog