Now that HTML5 has become more widely supported, Google has announced a timeline for their discontinued support for Microsoft's Silverlight plug-in. This will take place in 3 phases over the next 9 months with support being completely removed by September 2015.
Here are a few documents that discuss Google's plans for dropping NPAPI support:
GOOGLE CHROME TO DISABLE NPAPI PLUGIN SUPPORT
Google Chrome will block all NPAPI plugins by default in January, drop support completely in September
Currently KGIS uses Silverlight for the our 2 primary internal mapping applications: KGIS Advanced Maps and City Engineering Maps. Support for these applications will continue to work without any issue in Microsoft's Internet Explorer browser. So for users using IE there shouldn't be an issue. To my knowledge, Firefox has not indicated any plans to drop NPAPI support in the near future.
Future plans:
KGIS is currently working to move to ArcGIS Server 10.2.2 and Geocortex's Essentials 4.2 (framework for most of our mapping applications). The plan is to move KGIS Advanced Maps and City Engineering Maps to the new platform and KEEP them as Silverlight applications. We don't see this as a problem, since most internal users are using Internet Explorer. Once the move is complete and the new system is stable we will start to transition those sites to HTML5.
KUBGISWeb is a custom Silverlight application built using Telvent's ArcFM Silverlight API. KUB is currently working on a new viewer based on Esri's Javascript API. While this new app is still in the early stages, the plan is to replace KUBGISWeb with the new application which will be HTML5 based and contain support for both Telvent and Maximo.
The KFD Fire Hydrant application, which is currently a Silverlight application, will be released on the new system as a new HTML5 application.
City Control Points and MPC Cases are already Geocortex HTML5 applications and will simply be updated on the new system. There will however be a new suite of tools for those apps.
KGIS Maps is a custom javascript and HTML application which will be updated to the new Esri platfom but will be unaffected by the Geocortex upgrade.
Here is a link to Geocortex's article about the move to HTML5
How does this affect me?
If you are not using Google Chrome, then you can ignore this entire discussion. I suspect the majority of our users fall into this category. However, if you are using City Control Points or MPC Cases on a regular basis, you are most likely using Chrome or some other browser that has better support for HTML5. If you are a Chrome user (which I am), then I suggest you stick with Chrome and we will work diligently to update the applictions before the September deadline. Geocortex continues to add functionality to their HTML5 application and says they are about 80% compatible with their Silverlight viewer.
Give me my IE:
You can continue to use Internet Explorer however the support for HTML5 will be limited. Currently IE 11 (which I am running) scores a 376 out of 555 on the HTML5 Test Site. Chrome scores a 512. I am sure IE will add more support for HTML5 in the near future but they seem to be moving a little slower than other browsers (e.g. Chrome, Opera, Firefox, etc.). Currently of the 5 major browsers IE has the least amount of support for HTML 5 and it gets really week if you are using IE9 or below.
Why all the fuss over HTML5:
In a nutshell, mobile devices. Think about how many folks have a smartphone. All these people want to access data and companies want to give it to them. Plugins simply don't run on mobile devices. Apple has never had support for Silverlight or Flash on IPhones or IPads. And if I remember correctly, Android no longer supports Flash (I think some older versions did). However, they all support HTML5.
If you have any questions about how this will affect the way you use KGIS, please give us a call and we will try to help you out.