What is Microsoft Silverlight? - Silverlight Then and Now
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Essentially, Silverlight 1.0, which was created over a year ago, was intended to be Microsoft's answer to Adobe Flash and Flex and several other rich Internet application and AJAX frameworks. Originally, the program manipulated its multimedia-savvy, Windows Presentation Foundation user interface using JavaScript. Silverlight 1.1, which added support for compiled .Net languages and supported more of the .Net API, was only available as an alpha test at the time.
Silverlight 1.1 was such an important upgrade for Microsoft that it was eventually renumbered Silverlight 2. Silverlight 2 supported all .Net languages, including the dynamic languages such as IronPython and IronRuby, and it contained a good portion of the .Net base classes, including new features such as LINQ (language-integrated query). In addition to its rich set of controls, it had APIs for an alphabet soup of networking, including REST, SOAP, RSS, and HTTP. It also included local data caching and storage and supported HD video, among other rich media formats. H.264 video and AAC (Advanced Audio Coding) audio support was even being planned for Silverlight 3.0, which is now available.
Silverlight 2’s crowning moment was the Beijing Olympics in August of 2008; the program was favorably reviewed and generally well received. There were some who complained of incompatible hardware and operating systems, but nothing too bad or unexpected. There was no denying Silverlight’s Internet video streaming of the Olympics, provided by NBC in the U.S., China Central Television in China and broadcasters in 10 other major national markets, was a huge success for Microsoft. Shortly after the Olympics, Silverlight 2 also enabled Blockbuster to offer high-quality streaming video to PC and Mac users for its MovieLink service.
Silverlight 3.0 will certainly prove to be just as successful. Aside from being the most comprehensive offering for the rapid creation and delivery of sophisticated applications through a Web browser, it is also forged from technology used in over 100,000 companies and understood by over four million developers worldwide. Silverlight has the full support of Microsoft's tools, technologies, and a thriving partner ecosystem.
Silverlight 3’s Beta preview release, which continues Silverlight’s track record of rapid innovation, introduced more than 50 new features, including support for running Silverlight applications out of the browser, dramatic video performance and quality improvements, and features that radically improve developer productivity. Combined with the continued innovation in Visual Studio and Expression Blend, Silverlight 3 empowers .NET developers to create cutting-edge Rich Internet Applications and media experiences.
Next: What’s New in Silverlight 3 Beta? >>
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