Silverlight

Microsoft Silverlight is a web application framework that provides functionalities similar to those in Adobe Flash, integrating multimedia, graphics, animationsand interactivityinto a single runtime environment.

Features

NO need to be hosted in IIS, any web server will do.
NO need ASP.NET on the server (PHP,IronRuby,IronPython).
Deep Zoom
Printing support.
New and enhanced controls such as a RichTextBox and and DataGrid control.
New hosted browser support for rendering HTML inside Silverlight.
Clipboard and drag and drop support.
Read and write local files
LINQ support.
Includes mini-CLR on the client
Browser plug-in
Cross-browser (Mozila, IE 7.0+,Safari)
Cross-platform (XP SP2, Vista, OSX, Linux,Mac)
3D Support
Video : WMV,V7,V8,V9,VC-1
Audio: WMA, V7,V8,V9(standard), MP3

Restrictions

Silverlight applications cannot access databases without an intermediary
Silverlight applications cannot access server-side classes or variables without an intermediary.

Why Silverlight?


.NET framework (proven technology)
Managed code
Garbage Collection
Better development tools (Visual Studio 2008 vs Flex, easy win)
For existing .NET developers there is a small learning curve
Support for multiple languages including c#.
Lightweight at 4-6 MB, quick download
It is most inexpensive way to stream video files over the internet.
Development time comparable to Flash
Easy to create and host projects
Presentation format for Silverlight is XAML
Declarative
Designers and programmers work in parallel

XAML Overview

XAML = eXtensible Application Markup Language
Flexible XML document schema
Examples: WPF, Silverlight, Workflow Foundation
Enables rich tooling support
While still preserving good readability and hand-coding within text editors


Sample


Hello World