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Silverlight - The next generation web experiences

Today at the National Association of Broadcasters (NAB) conference, Microsoft is again demonstrating how we are enabling our customers to have richer experiences on the web by announcing Microsoft Silverlight - a new, cross-platform, cross-browser plug-in for building the next generation of Media Experiences and Rich Interactive Applications. Formerly known as “WPF/E,” at NAB we are announcing our new brand identity along with the incredible support from our partner ecosystem. This is just the beginning and sets the foundation for MIX where we will unveil the end to end platform/tools vision for developers and designers.

Microsoft Silverlight will enable content providers to deliver media experiences and rich interactive applications that incorporate media, graphics, animation, and much, much more with full application functionality on both Windows and Mac platforms and inside IE, Firefox and Safari. Silverlight users will also enjoy compatibility with the broad ecosystem of Windows Media (VC-1) enabled tools and solutions, including existing and upcoming IIS and Windows Streaming Media server technologies.

As part of our big day, here are some additional things that we are announcing:

  • Expression Media Encoder – a feature of Microsoft Expression Media, which enables rapid compression and Web publishing of digital video from a variety of popular formats including AVI and QuickTime.
  • IIS7 Media Pack for Windows Server –the Media Pack is for customers wishing to enable cost-effective delivery of downloaded media through bit-rate throttling and other advanced features such as cache-proxy support.
  • Broad support from leading media companies and solution providers for Microsoft Silverlight and Microsoft’s approach to media experiences and rich interactive application development.

You can learn more about these releases at the Silverlight Virtual Press Room which was also launched today.

As I mentioned, this Silverlight announcement at NAB is only part of the story, the rest will be unveiled at MIX including details about how Silverlight is a core component of Microsoft’s broader .NET platform. Keep your eyes on Mix07 as part of Ray Ozzie’s and Scott Guthrie’s keynote – be sure to check it out.

       

Namaste!

Comments

  • Anonymous
    April 15, 2007
    If it's "next generation", then what new abilities does it add to what people are already doing, today? jd/adobe

  • Anonymous
    April 15, 2007
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  • Anonymous
    April 15, 2007
    John, lets keep that a surprise for MIX.  I hope you are coming.

  • Anonymous
    April 15, 2007
    The comment has been removed

  • Anonymous
    April 15, 2007
    The comment has been removed

  • Anonymous
    April 15, 2007
    That is fantastic news. Seeing the words "based on the .net framework" on the Silverlight web site is a relief given the most recent CTP had nada functionality in this area. Soma: How about making it truly cross platform/cross browser and making it available on Linux and all the Windows Mobile versions?! I'm sure the latter will happen, but from a developer's perspective having a version that runs on Linux (maybe based on Mono?) would be extremely useful. It would make many development technology decisions a no-brainer. Most developers would still deploy the resulting software mostly on Windows systems but not have to develop multiple versions to get significant cross platform coverage.

  • Anonymous
    April 15, 2007
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  • Anonymous
    April 15, 2007
    Tonight we announced the official name of wpfe....Microsoft Silverlight! This is the beginning of a bunch

  • Anonymous
    April 15, 2007
    Silverlight - The next generation web experiences(Somasegar's WebLog)より SilverLight というソリューションが発表されています。

  • Anonymous
    April 15, 2007
    Great job on the branding!  I like it.  Now please please please fix the "WPF classic" branding.

  • Anonymous
    April 15, 2007
    Having been involved in a few of the notably-mediocre names such as "Windows Presentation Foundation"

  • Anonymous
    April 15, 2007
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  • Anonymous
    April 15, 2007
    The official name as well as site is now out for Silverlight, which used to be called WPF/E. Lookin'

  • Anonymous
    April 15, 2007
    Microsoft has announced that the little cross-platform, cross-browser cousin of Windows Presentation

  • Anonymous
    April 15, 2007
    The comment has been removed

  • Anonymous
    April 15, 2007
    Can you clarify if Expression Media Encoder is the same as Windows Media Encoder Studio Edition (which was cancelled/pulled quietly) few months ago????

  • Anonymous
    April 15, 2007
    I don't think this name will last too long, it doesn't sound professional

  • Anonymous
    April 15, 2007
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  • Anonymous
    April 15, 2007
    Hele blogosfæren, eller ihvertfald den del der beskæftiger sig med Microsoft teknologi genlyder her til

  • Anonymous
    April 15, 2007
    Check out Soma's blog today: http://blogs.msdn.com/somasegar/archive/2007/04/15/silverlight-the-next-generation-web-media-experiences.aspx

  • Anonymous
    April 16, 2007
    You've heard snippets of details about what this thing code-named "WPF/e" could do, maybe even downloaded

  • Anonymous
    April 16, 2007
    The comment has been removed

  • Anonymous
    April 16, 2007
    For all of you didn't noticed the name change of code name WPF/E, it is now Microsft Silverlight . Silverlight

  • Anonymous
    April 16, 2007
    Auf der NAB Konferenz in Las Vegas wurde der neue Produktname, sowie weitere Details über die neueste

  • Anonymous
    April 16, 2007
    Those of you, who visited my session on Windows Presentation Foundation, hopefully remember speaking

  • Anonymous
    April 16, 2007
    The Expression Media Encoder is a brand new tool focused specifically on preparing media for delivery as part of Silverlight-based experiences and is not related to Windows Media Encoder. -somasegar

  • Anonymous
    April 16, 2007
    Microsoft got in to 'web 2.0' naming conventions?! i like the new name for wpf/e.

  • Anonymous
    April 16, 2007
    Voir le blog de Somasegar pour plus d'information. http://blogs.msdn.com/somasegar/archive/2007/04/15/silverlight-the-next-generation-web-media-experiences.asp

  • Anonymous
    April 16, 2007
    The comment has been removed

  • Anonymous
    April 16, 2007
    Late Sunday night - Soma announced that WPF/E will become Microsoft SilverLight - He also that this just...

  • Anonymous
    April 16, 2007
    It's pretty strange that the silverlight page not have any silverlight features.  So far, I have no idea what this product will look like - all hype.

  • Anonymous
    April 16, 2007
    After lurking in the shadow of it's codename for several months Silverlight has finally been announced

  • Anonymous
    April 16, 2007
    Alright, I realize that nobody will read this but I'm quite annoyed and need to spout again. In my ever

  • Anonymous
    April 16, 2007
    And the award for worst product name of the year goes to...

  • Anonymous
    April 16, 2007
    Where can one download the Linux client?

  • Anonymous
    April 16, 2007
    "Monday, April 16, 2007 12:21 PM by john It's pretty strange that the silverlight page not have any silverlight features.  So far, I have no idea what this product will look like - all hype." Download the ctp, and try the page again - you may be in for a surprise.  As Soma announced Microsoft is releasing a beta at MIX, therefore Microsoft did not want to push auto-download, but provide the freedom of choice for early users - you can download the CTP, to experience some of the Silverlight features, or can wait for the beta release shortly.  As I said before, the best is yet to come - MIX is going to be excellent! Plus, I have been told that many features of Silverlight are being demonstrated at NAB.  As I think you may be John from adobe who posted earlier (sorry if you not..) - ask your colleagues to wander over from their booth since it's right next door on the floor chart.

  • Anonymous
    April 16, 2007
    The comment has been removed

  • Anonymous
    April 16, 2007
    Have you been following the evolution of the technology that was previewed under the codename 'WPF/E'?

  • Anonymous
    April 16, 2007
    As has been blogged all over the place , WPF/E has been renamed Silverlight (Note: lower case 'L').

  • Anonymous
    April 16, 2007
    The comment has been removed

  • Anonymous
    April 16, 2007
    The comment has been removed

  • Anonymous
    April 16, 2007
    The comment has been removed

  • Anonymous
    April 16, 2007
    Anyone notice that silverlight.com is pointing to Apple?

  • Anonymous
    April 16, 2007
    RIA = Rich Internet Application NOT Rich Interactive Applications You can't just take an industry wide understood acronym and change it. Anybody know any applications which are not interactive?

  • Anonymous
    April 17, 2007
    "Anybody know any applications which are not interactive?" ... actually, Microsoft application half the time ... :)

  • Anonymous
    April 17, 2007
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  • Anonymous
    April 17, 2007
    The comment has been removed

  • Anonymous
    April 17, 2007
    How can you claim Silverlight enables richer experiences when its mostly an attempt to replace current technology? There doesnt seem to be anything much more rich or interactive about it over what we already can do. Additionally, I agree with the other comments that changing the acronym for RIA is a bit haughty. Way to be like Sony.

  • Anonymous
    April 17, 2007
    Good, a very inspiring product name. Can we expect a rebranding of the full-blown WPF coming as well? "Silverlight™ Ultimate" for the ultimate experience... :)

  • Anonymous
    April 17, 2007
    The comment has been removed

  • Anonymous
    April 17, 2007
    Doesn't work on OS X 10.4.9's Safari, yesterday's build of WebKit, or Firefox 2.0.0.1.  How do I report bugs?

  • Anonymous
    April 17, 2007
    Soma Somasegar has posted a blog post on his blog on the release of WPF/E, now known as Microsoft SilverLight.

  • Anonymous
    April 17, 2007
    Soma Somasegar has posted a blog post on his blog on the release of WPF/E, now known as Microsoft SilverLight

  • Anonymous
    April 17, 2007
    I bet after Adblock and Flashblock the next add-on for Firefox will be Silverlightblock.

  • Anonymous
    April 18, 2007
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  • Anonymous
    April 18, 2007
    The comment has been removed

  • Anonymous
    April 18, 2007
    I am very excited about this, particularly the video features and the rich interaction with SharePoint via the Interactive Media Manager. I hope we will see a proliferation of tools designed for various technical levels so that everyone can play ;-)

  • Anonymous
    April 18, 2007
    The comment has been removed

  • Anonymous
    April 18, 2007
    >>If you think I'll trade in ActionSript for XAML you are If they let you do C# , which I don't see why not, then it will make ActionScript look like a cheap toy.

  • Anonymous
    April 19, 2007
    Cross platform... right. Does it work on Linux? No. Your definition of cross platform is extremely wide. 2 desktop platforms = cross platform.

  • Anonymous
    April 19, 2007
    De halve wereld heeft er al een post aan gewaagd, maar nu vond ik een streaming filmpje: Video: Microsoft®...

  • Anonymous
    April 19, 2007
    The comment has been removed

  • Anonymous
    April 19, 2007
    This looks awesome, but will when will Microsoft release a service pack for vista?

  • Anonymous
    April 19, 2007
    This looks awesome, but when will Microsoft release of service pack for Vista?

  • Anonymous
    April 19, 2007
    I thought about posting a shortening my blog, but as there are a few stupid assertions, I decided to keep it in its entirety. I hadn’t realised that there was a trademark assigned to the acronym RIA.  There also appears – as one respondent appears to imply – some sort of unwritten industry law that prevents anyone accurately describing ‘something’ if its description results in forming the acronym RIA or any other well used industry term! I can not help feel that this kind of purist ownership of acronyms is nonsense.  Rich Interactive Applications is as valid as Rich Internet Application as is Really Ineffective Applications.   What separates them is meaning and context. In our report on the topic, Ovum defines Rich Interactive Applications as "applications that combine the light touch and ubiquity of a web application with the interactivity and functionality of a desktop app and offers a consistent and effective user experience, both online and offline across a variety of devices and networks." From what I understand of the technology, concept and strategy behind Silverlight and the demos that I have seen, Microsoft is right to describe Silverlight as a rich interactive application. Of course they are not the only ones in the game, Adobe, Tibco and others have products that fit the description of a rich interactive application. Interactivity’ is actually as important as ‘Internet’ - in some cases more.  Why? Because in my opinion, it is closely tied to the notion of user experience and engagement.  Nor is it bound since it explicitly states interaction irrespective of the format. Interactivity is also defined by the Oxford English dictionary from the perspective of computers or electronic devices, as allowing a two way flow of information between it and a user, responding to the user’s input.  Fairly clear cut, especially when you consider the fact that not all Rich Internet Applications are interactive. In fact a vast number are no more than just rich presentation interfaces (eye candy etc.) and are not interactive.   I welcome Microsoft’s latest product Silverlight as I do Adobe’s Apollo because they herald the next wave of ‘next generation applications’ where the focus is on the user experience and more thought is given to the effectiveness of that interaction and the context in which it occurs.   Silverlight, based on the technology and the strategy being pushed by Microsoft has a lot to offer.  And while clearly a lot of work has gone into its development – a noteworthy achievement considering the starting point – it is still an early version. Clearly there is room for improvement.  Once more of the community use it in anger the holes will become apparent and Microsoft will need to be quick to rectify them if it is to reach the credibility level it requires. When all said and done, there are plenty of Microsoft users who expect the company to provide them with products that are both current and allow them to leverage the latest technologies.  There will also be plenty of non Microsoft customers who might just want an alternative to what is already out there.  Maybe they are not as enamoured of competitor products – shocking I know.

  • Anonymous
    April 19, 2007
    >Not if it isn't integrated into an IDE right on the timeline >where you are working. I have never been comfortable with the timeline approach. Does Apollo use a timeline ? >?THAT is what they are up against. Not the language itself. I think the point for me is that if SilverLight lets me code against it in C# then it is a killer. Right now it is simply not rich enougth without that.

  • Anonymous
    April 22, 2007
    "WPF/E", el nuevo plugin de navegador creado por Microsoft para la nueva generación de aplicaciones

  • Anonymous
    April 25, 2007
    The main Silverlight page is vague, and I would agree with calling it hype. I downloaded the video and expected to find a demonstration of the technology in action. Instead I was presented with this stinger of guys swirling around on skateboards, and people pretending to use 'Minority Report' style interfaces floating in free space. No sign of anything remotely approaching concrete technology being described or demonstrated. I am none the wiser. Can we have some information about the technology please?

  • Anonymous
    April 25, 2007
    Crossbrowser without Opera looks like a stupid idea, did opera dont like the Plugin because of security-flaws? Or is it Microsofts next target?

  • Anonymous
    April 26, 2007
    just downloaded and installed the .dmg like the instructions said, restarted FF2/mac and safari, and i get this blank area on the silverlight page. nice work guys.

  • Anonymous
    April 27, 2007
    Elko, re: Opera, the plan IS to support Opera... schedule and specifics will be announced as soon as we finalize.

  • Anonymous
    April 30, 2007
    The comment has been removed

  • Anonymous
    April 30, 2007
    oops, with apollo i ment Flex ;)

  • Anonymous
    April 30, 2007
    The comment has been removed

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    April 30, 2007
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    May 29, 2007
    I spoke to Noelle Waugh from B &amp; T today. It was the first time I had spoken to anyone from B &amp;