AutoPlay Development Story – Silverlight vs. Bootstrap

What is AutoPlay’s planned pathway forward to provide solutions for Desktop, Android and Windows Tablet devices?

Background
Since AutoPlay was launched we have utilised Microsoft Silverlight to deliver our Desktop Studio web application on Windows PC’s.  Microsoft Silverlight is a browser plug in that came as standard in most Windows OS for many years.  Silverlight enabled fast development and a speedy install of our Desktop Studio - allowing us to easily deliver the functionality required to record and play audio on standard Desktop PC’s without complicated set ups.  In the past Silverlight was supported by all the main internet browsers including Firefox, Chrome and Internet Explorer.
 
Unfortunately, the changing face of workplace technology is forcing us to review our approach to maintaining and deploying our software.  In particular;
·         Microsoft have announced that Silverlight will cease to exist in 2021.  However over recent years’ browsers such as Chrome, Firefox and Edge have stopped supporting Silverlight.  AutoPlay desktop software is a low impact deployment via web browser and the lack of support for Silverlight is unfairly forcing our customers to have Internet Explorer on their PC.
·         AutoPlay focus on iOS development which comes with many advantages.  However, in the wider market with Samsung, HTC and other devices running on Android, and Windows using their own platform the environment is increasingly becoming fractured.  Limiting our customers to iOS and Windows Desktop is not a viable long term plan.
 
What’s Next?
AutoPlay has been working towards alternative solutions to develop and deploy AutoPlay applications.  We have settled on Bootstrap – one of the most popular HTML, CSS, and JS framework for developing responsive, mobile first projects on the web.  Bootstrap easily and efficiently scales your websites and applications with a single code base, from phones to tablets to desktops with CSS media queries.  This will enable AutoPlay to eventually maintain one single code base and an application that will work on any device, and any screen size – bringing very tangible benefits to our development model.
 
How Will We Achieve This?
AutoPlay has a commitment to continue to deliver outstanding software applications to our customers.  Over the coming years, we will continue to develop and make improvements to our existing Windows and iOS applications whilst in parallel we will be working on our new Bootstrap applications.  As such we will be taking a structured approach to this process.
1.       AutoPlay are currently working on a stand-alone application called “Test Drive Pro” for the international market.  This application is being built from scratch in Bootstrap and is due for completion towards the back end of Q2, 2017.
2.       AutoPlay will take the learnings provided from building and deploying Test Drive Pro to rebuild the Desktop Studio within the Bootstrap framework.  The Desktop Studio is a far larger application and we are currently forecasting this won’t be ready until early 2018.
 
Outcomes
Our primary goal is to ensure existing and new users of AutoPlay on Desktop are provided a sustainable, future proof web application that works with any browser including Chrome, Firefox, Edge and also on Mac Desktop Safari.  However, addressing these issues will also ensure that AutoPlay Sales Pipeline and associated products will be able to be used on Android and Windows tablets and smartphones.

At AutoPlay, we are proud of the work we have achieved to become the market leader in pre-sale lead and data management.   Now we look forward to the next phase of our life and the opportunities that Bootstrap development will provide us.  Most of all we look forward to providing our customers with more flexibility to take advantage of all of our products – no matter the device they own.