Silverlight .NET Support

The Silverlight team has released a new version ^[1] today at the MIX with .NET support. Since Mike announced ^[2] this Web developers are waiting for this new feature.

What's New in Silverlight?

The Silverlight 1.0 Beta Enhancements ^[3]:

• Improved install experience
• VideoBrush (used to paint shapes and text with video content)
• WMS streaming support
• Media markers/script command support
• Playlist support (ASX subset)
• Improved video playback smoothness
• Cleaned-up animation model, Animations now go in a Canvas.Resources

• Support for downloading and unpacking .zip files
• Support for cross-domain downloads
• Improved text rendering
• Ink support
• Improved javascript programming: Enum support, Better error handling, Support for delegates as event handlers, Sandboxed javascript mode
• Namescope support
• New properties for UI manipulation: Z-Index,

<b>IsHitTestVisible</b>

• Downloading fonts for TextBlock

Silverlight 1.1 Alpha will support managed code.

Silverlight Community

Microsoft started with the Silverlight community Web site at http://silverlight.net ^[4]. Have a look at the new examples ^[5] for 1.0 Beta and 1.1 Alpha. Download the new 1.1 Alpha ^[6] or 1.0 Beta ^[7].

• Fox Movies Trailer Library ^[8]
• Eyeblaster Rich Media Advertising ^[9]
• Microsoft.com Navigation ^[10]
• Telerik's RadControls ^[11]
• MSDN Home Page ^[12]

Have a look at the "How Do I? ^[13]" videos, too. And the MSDN forums are moved to http://silverlight.net/forums ^[14], so update your bookmarks.

Silverlight Download

One thing I have noticed is that the download for 1.1 Alpha now is about 4.24 MB, the 1.0 Beta version is about 1.4 MB which is nearly the same size as the old version. If you install Silverlight be sure that you have saved your running Web applications because the installer will close all Web browser instances.