Microsoft today announced the availability of Silverlight 2.
Silverlight is a cross-browser, cross-platform, and cross-device plug-in to rival Adobe"s Flash. It allows for developers to build interactive applications for the Web.
Microsoft also announced further support of open source communities by funding advanced Silverlight development capabilities with the Eclipse Foundation"s integrated development environment (IDE) and by providing new controls to developers with the Silverlight Control Pack (SCP) under the Microsoft Permissive License.
"We launched Silverlight just over a year ago, and already one in four consumers worldwide has access to a computer with Silverlight already installed," said Scott Guthrie, corporate vice president of the .NET Developer Division at Microsoft.
Silverlight 2 features include:
- Support for Mac, Windows and Linux in Firefox, Safari and Windows Internet Explorer
- Improved server scalability and expanded advertiser support
- Advanced content protection
- Deep zoom, for zooming and navigation of ultrahigh resolution imagery
- Advanced skinning and templating support