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Read the press release for what was announced at Mix ’09 about Silverlight 3.

The Silverlight 3 Beta should only be used by developers and designers who want to experiment with the new features that will be shipping in Silverlight 3. The developer version of the runtime, along with versions of Silverlight 3 Beta compatible tools, can be installed here.

Microsoft announced the release of the industry's most comprehensive and powerful solution for the creation and delivery of applications and media experiences through a Web browser. Silverlight 2 delivers a wide range of new features and tooling that enable designers and developers to better collaborate while creating more accessible, more discoverable, and more secure user experiences. Microsoft also announced further support of open source communities by funding advanced Silverlight development capabilities with the Eclipse integrated development environment (IDE) and by providing new controls to developers with the Silverlight Control Pack (SCP) under the Microsoft Permissive License (Ms-PL).

In particular, the RIA Development features include:

• A compatible subset of the .NET Framework Support with a Rich Base Class Library
• Powerful Built-in Controls
• Advanced Skinning and Templating Support
• Comprehensive Networking Support
• Expanded .NET Framework Language Support
• Advanced content protection features, now including Silverlight DRM, Powered by PlayReady
• Improved Server Scalability and Expanded Advertiser Support

In addition to the new RIA development and media experience features, Microsoft is announcing that it is open sourcing the Silverlight Control Pack, publishing the spec for the XAML Vocabulary for Silverlight, and providing funding for a community project to integrate advanced Silverlight development features into the free, open source Eclipse Integrated Development Environment (IDE). By helping bring Silverlight development to the Eclipse IDE, Microsoft will eventually enable Mac and Linux users to participate in the designer-developer workflow.

Microsoft also announced the Visual Studio Tools for Silverlight for the free Visual Web Developer (VWD) Express Edition. These tools will enable novice developers, hobbyists, and students to quickly and easily create compelling Web experiences free-of-charge.

Finally, in addition to the announcements pertaining to the new features in Silverlight 2, and the announcements pertaining to greater interoperability and standards support, Silverlight is on track to becoming one of the fastest-growing browser plug-ins in the history of the Internet. According to Scott Guthrie, Corporate Vice President, Developer Division at Microsoft: "We launched Silverlight just over one year ago and already one in four consumers worldwide have access to a computer with Silverlight."

Silverlight 2 delivers a wide range of new features that provide designers and developers the tools they need to build cutting-edge rich Internet applications (RIA) and advanced media experiences on the Web. Highlights include:

• .NET Framework Support with a Rich Base Class Library – A compatible subset of the full .NET Framework gives developers the most comprehensive RIA runtime on the Web today, with unparalleled data access capabilities, local data caching and local data storage, superior input-output (IO) performance, and better threading. By leveraging the rich base class library of the .NET Framework, developers can minimize the amount of additional code they have to write for their projects.
• Powerful Built-in Controls – Silverlight 2 includes a rich set of built-in controls that allow developers and designers to quickly build applications such as: DataGrid, ListBox, Slider, ScrollViewer and Calendar.
• Advanced Skinning Support – Advanced styling and templating support gives designers and developers complete control over the look and feel of an application to ensure the custom brand experience for their rich Internet application meets their exacting requirements.
• Comprehensive Networking Support – Silverlight 2 contains out-of-the-box support for calling REST, WS*/SOAP, POX, RSS and standard HTTP services enables users to create Web 2.0-style applications that easily integrate with existing heterogeneous back-end systems.
• Expanded .NET Framework Language Support – Unlike other runtimes, Silverlight 2 supports a variety of programming languages, including Visual Basic, C#, Managed JavaScript, IronPython and IronRuby, making it easier for developers already familiar with one of these languages to repurpose their existing skills.
• Advanced DRM Features, powered by PlayReady – Advanced content protection features now include Silverlight digital rights management (DRM), Powered by PlayReady. Silverlight DRM builds on Microsoft’s extensive expertise in developing DRM technologies, delivering robust protection for key Silverlight scenarios including: live streaming, on-demand streaming and progressive downloads for connected experiences.
• Improved Server Scalability and Expanded Advertiser Support – The combination of Silverlight 2 and Windows Server 2008 offers streaming video professionals industry-leading scalability and cutting-edge progressive download features. In addition, Silverlight offers superior search engine optimization capabilities and advanced in-stream advertising support through companies such as DoubleClick Inc. and EyeWonder Inc.
• Deep Zoom Technology – The new Deep Zoom technology in Silverlight allows users to see images on the Web as never before. The smooth, in-place zooming and panning that Deep Zoom allows is a true advancement and raises the bar on what image viewing should be. It is also now possible through this feature to make super-high-resolution images easily consumable on the Web. Even better, Deep Zoom is designed in a way that will reduce Web hosting and bandwidth costs by sending to the browser exactly the right size and resolution image for the current display area.

The following controls are now available in Silverlight 2:

• Input controls : Button, CheckBox, RadioButton, RepeatButton, HyperLinkButton , ScrollBar (Vert/Horiz), Slider, Togglebutton, Tooltip, Calendar, Password, GridSplitter, Date Picker
• Layout : Border, Stack, Grid,ScrollViewer, DockPanel*, StackPanel*, ViewBox*
• Text : Textblock, Textbox, Tooltip, Label* , AutoComplete*
• Data : Listbox; DataGrid, ItemsControl, Dropdown list, Treeview*
• Navigation : Scrollviewer, Tab Control
• Presentation : Image, MediaElement, Ink canvas, MultiScaleImage, Expander*, Accordian*
• Dialog : File, FontPicker

In addition, we’re also making many more controls available online via CodePlex. These controls are noted above with an (*). Over the next few months we plan to have over 100 controls available for Silverlight.

Nothing. Silverlight 2 is a full superset of Silverlight 1.0. It is 100% compatible with Silverlight 1.0 applications and provides more powerful features and functionality. Silverlight 1.0 applications even benefit from improvements in media playback and performance characteristics of Silverlight 2 without any additional changes needed.

Yes.

In order to build Silverlight 2 content with Expression Blend 2, you should use Expression Blend 2 SP1 together with the Silverlight 2 SDK.

In order to build Silverlight 2 content with Visual Studio 2008, you should use Visual Studio 2008 SP1 together with the Microsoft Silverlight Tools for Visual Studio 2008 (which contains the Silverlight 2 SDK). Also, this version of Silverlight Tools for Visual Studio 2008 now works with our free version of Visual Studio, Visual Web Developer.

The Silverlight installer and tools for Designers and Developers can be found on the Tools page. The Silverlight community site is also a great resource for developers to find additional resources and get started.

Yes. The Macintosh version of Silverlight 2 has the same feature set found in the Windows version.

ASP.NET AJAX and Silverlight are designed to be complementary technologies. Because Silverlight can talk to any AJAX application, both client-side and server-side, customers can enhance existing ASP.NET or ASP.NET AJAX applications by integrating Silverlight media experiences and RIAs into their Web applications. Conversely, ASP.NET AJAX can additionally be used to control Silverlight-based visualization of data or the delivery of rich experiences.

Silverlight provides a rich set of controls which you can use in your SharePoint site – see http://www.codeplex.com/SL4SP. Over time, Microsoft will provide more advanced support for building SharePoint sites using Silverlight.

Silverlight is a cross-browser, cross-platform plug-in for delivering the next generation of media experiences and rich interactive applications (RIAs) for the Web. Examples include:

• ASP.NET-based Web applications: Silverlight provides a rich UI front-end that, with a consistent programming model, adds support for richer interactivity, media, and audio.
• Microsoft SharePoint–based content: Silverlight offers the ability to create rich Web parts.
• Windows Live services: Silverlight offers the ability to consume services and APIs more effectively.

Microsoft recommends targeting the Windows Presentation Foundation (WPF) when building rich, immersive applications and experiences that can take full advantage of the Windows platform, including hardware acceleration, peripheral access, etc. Silverlight is meant be used for broad reach, interactive media content and browser-based rich interactive and high-performance applications and experiences.

Some areas that will not be a part of Silverlight include the support for 3D and GPU rendering found in the .NET Framework. However, we are working hard to expand the subset of WPF functionality found in Silverlight, making it even easier to reuse code, assets, and tools when building applications.

For Silverlight-related forums, blogs, and community resources visit the Silverlight Support and Community page

Yes. With Visual Web Developer 2008 Service Pack 1, you can now install the Silverlight Tools for Visual Studio 2008 and build Silverilght applications.

Windows Media Audio and Video 7,8,9 (WMA, WMAPro, WMV/VC-1), as well as MP3 audio. Microsoft has announced support for H.264/MPEG AVC and AAC playback in a future version of Silverlight coming in early 2009. We will explore the need for additional formats and codecs based on customer feedback and market need over time. Our philosophy around media formats support is "choice". It is important to note that Silverlight is a format-agnostic RIA environment that should support any media format that users require. The addition of native H.264/AAC video and audio decode inside of Silverlight is all about providing choice to customers.

This future support will include the ability to natively playback standards-compliant H.264/AAC files in MP4 containers, including .f4v files, as well as m4v, mov, and 3gp. Content from other formats can also be transcoded into formats that are supported by Silverlight via Expression Encoder or a wide range of Windows Media compatible third-party encoding solutions. We are exploring support for other formats based on customer feedback and market need.

Yes, Silverlight supports 1080p HD quality today. However, performance varies depending on the capabilities of the individual PC.

Silverlight DRM currently supports WMV, VC-1, and WMA. Although we have announced forthcoming support for H.264/AAC playback in a future version of Silverlight, we are still evaluating support for protected H.264/AAC at this time. Implementation of this will depend on customer demand.

Silverlight 2 supports WMDRM 10 and PlayReady-encrypted content. However, live streaming of protected content is only available through WMDRM 10 encryption at this time.

Yes.

No. Silverlight 2 will only decrypt content with licenses issued by the PlayReady Server SDK. To maximize performance – both over the network, and in terms of minimizing the size and complexity of the plug-in itself, Silverlight DRM only has support for processing the new PlayReady license format, a more compact than WMDRM license format. A consequence of this is that a PlayReady license server is needed to deliver all licenses to the Silverlight 2 plug-in.

No, Silverlight 2 will only support online-connected playback scenarios.

No, Silverlight DRM, powered by PlayReady, does not support license chaining.

Silverlight 2 supports both silent and non-silent license acquisition, enabling custom data from the application to be passed to the license server.

No. The first release of Silverlight DRM, powered by PlayReady, is supported on Windows PCs and on Macs. We are looking at providing DRM support for mobile scenarios in a future release but have nothing to announce at this point.

The first release of Silverlight DRM, powered by PlayReady, is supported on Windows PCs and on Macs. We are looking at providing DRM support for mobile scenarios in a future release but have nothing to announce at this point.

Silverlight 2 will provide digital rights management support built on Microsoft PlayReady™ content access technology, on Windows and Mac. For Silverlight-compatible playback on Linux we are discussing possible approaches with Novell, which is developing a Silverlight-compatible implementation for Linux.

No. The Silverlight DRM client is contained within the Silverlight plug-in, which in turn can only run within a browser. However, note that ISVs could license the PlayReady PC SDK to build WPF applications that could process content protected with PlayReady.

The final release version of Silverlight 2 will support playback of WM DRM-encrypted content by dynamically generating a PlayReady License Challenge for that content using a LAURL supplied by the application through the MediaElement APIs. No re-encoding or re-encryption of existing WM DRM-encrypted content will be necessary , however a PlayReady license server will be needed to deliver all licenses to the Silverlight 2 plug-in, whether the content is encrypted using WMDRM or PlayReady.

Failure to acquire or authenticate licenses will return errors to the Silverlight MediaElement object, as documented in the Silverlight 2 SDK.

Individualization servers are currently available for Silverlight 2.

PlayReady Server SDK is supported on Windows Server 2003 operating systems. Support for Windows Server 2008 is being evaluated for a future release.

Silverlight DRM, Powered by PlayReady, is fully contained in the Silverlight 2 plug-in that users will download. To maximize performance – both over the network, and in terms of minimizing the size and complexity of the plug-in itself, Silverlight DRM has support for only processing the new PlayReady license format which is more compact than WMDRM license format. A consequence of this is that a PlayReady license server is needed to deliver all licenses to the Silverlight 2 plug-in.

Silverlight supports the most commonly used codecs from the Windows Media format that are also supported in Windows Media Player. This includes WMV and WMA. Since Silverlight is a lightweight, cross-platform technology, it only supports the codecs that are most commonly needed for Web playback. Microsoft has announced native support for MP4 formats (H.264/MPEG AVC video and AAC audio) in a future version of Silverlight and we will continue to gather feedback from customers about additional required format support.

As part of Microsoft's continued commitment to openness, flexibility, and choice, the company is announcing:

• The Eclipse Tools for Microsoft Silverlight Project – The open source project will integrate advanced Silverlight development capabilities into the Eclipse IDE and Eclipse Rich Client Platform. Developed by France-based IT solution provider Soyatec, the project is funded by Microsoft. These features will open Silverlight development to any Eclipse user and help facilitate the integration of Silverlight-based applications into Java-based web sites and services. The project will be released under the Eclipse Public License Version 1.0 on SourceForge and will be submitted to the Eclipse Foundation and released as an open Eclipse project.
• Publishing the Silverlight XAML Vocabulary Specification under Open Specification Promise (OSP) – By publishing the Silverlight XAML Vocabulary Specification under the Open Specification Promise, Microsoft will better enable ISVs to read and write XAML for use in Silverlight projects in other design and development software applications, thus accelerating the creation of a robust authoring and server ecosystem for Silverlight. This documentation release complements Microsoft’s existing published specifications of the XAML object mapping rules and XAML vocabulary for Windows Presentation Foundation (WPF).
• Open Sourcing the Silverlight Control Pack under the MS-PL license on CodePlex – By making the Silverlight Control Pack available as open-source software, which is built on CodePlex and released under the Open Source Initiative (OSI)-approved Microsoft Public License (MS-PL), Microsoft is helping developers easily customize and ship their own expanded controls, augmenting the powerful built-in control set that already ships in Silverlight. More info can be found at: http://blogs.msdn.com/sburke/archive/2008/09/17/control-freak.aspx.

In this case we decided that given the nature of this technology and its intended use in the marketplace that releasing it under the OSP makes sense. This is a business decision that looks to what is best for our customers and the industry and what will ultimately drive shareholder value. Here, we believe that facilitating the broadest adoption of this technology makes sense, and have decided to pull the documentation under the OSP. This will not be the right decision in every case.

These are the final versions of XAML language specifications, for advanced user experiences, that we first published in March of 2008. With this final set of documentation, developers will be able to better enable their own client, server, and tool applications to read and write XAML to process advanced user experiences. Release of this documentation is just another step in our ongoing efforts to increase transparency and grow the ecosystem around the .NET Framework technologies, and we hope that it will make it even easier for third parties to build tools, servers, services, and more to easily create, consume, optimize, and deploy .NET Framework-based applications.

While this action is not specifically related to our recently-announced Interoperability Principles, it is consistent with the objectives of the Interoperability Principles and is another proof point of Microsoft’s commitment to interoperability.

Microsoft Silverlight is a cross-browser, cross-platform, and cross-device plug-in for delivering the next generation of .NET based media experiences and rich interactive applications for the Web. By using Silverlight's support for .NET, High Definition video, cost-effective advanced streaming, and unparalleled high-resolution interactivity with Deep Zoom technology, businesses can reach out to new markets across the Web, desktop, and devices.

Yes, Microsoft has made the Silverlight browser plug-in freely available for all supported platforms and browsers.

Microsoft Silverlight is a cross-browser, cross-platform, and cross-device plug-in for delivering the next generation of .NET based media experiences and rich interactive applications for the Web. Silverlight offers a flexible programming model that supports AJAX, VB, C#, IronPython, and IronRuby, and integrates with existing Web applications. By using Expression Studio and Visual Studio, designers and developers can collaborate more effectively using the skills they have today to light up the Web of tomorrow. By leveraging Silverlight's support for .NET, High Definition video, cost-effective advanced streaming, unparalleled high-resolution interactivity with Deep Zoom technology, and controls, businesses can reach out to new markets across the Web, desktop, and devices.

Silverlight will support all major browsers on both Mac OS X, Linux and on Windows. Particular care is being taken to account for differences in platform and browser capabilities to ensure a consistent experience including experiences on Firefox, Safari, and Internet Explorer.

Microsoft designed Silverlight with the ability to deliver high-fidelity experiences on the broadest set of system configurations. Some features, such as HD video, may benefit from the power contained in newer personal computers.

Device support is coming soon.

Verify your installation by visiting the Silverlight installation page.

The Silverlight Deployment Guide thoroughly details all the steps for rolling out Silverlight on a corporate network.

The system requirements for Microsoft Silverlight and associated technologies are listed below.

• Windows
  • Operating System: Windows Vista; Windows XP Service Pack 2
  • Intel® Pentium® III 450MHz or faster processor (or equivalent)
  • 128MB of RAM
• Mac OS
  • Operating System: Apple Mac OS X 10.4.8 or above
  • Intel Core™ Duo 1.83GHz or faster processor
  • 128MB of RAM
• Linux. For the system requirements, please refer to the Mono Project's Moonlight Web site.

As you review Microsoft Silverlight, please feel free to consult any of the many additional resources provided. More information can be found at the following locations:

• Microsoft Silverlight Home Page
• Microsoft Expression Home Page
• MSDN Developer Center
• Microsoft Silverlight Community