The Silverlight homepage boasts: 'Learn how Silverlight is right for your business'. The signs are, however, that Microsoft has already realized that the battle for web content is being won by the much slicker and more stable Adobe Air platform, and is therefore aiming Silverlight at business users. In fact, this latest release is is of particular interest to developers because it adds 60 customizable controls, new layout containers, 'deep linking' for page bookmarking, search engine optimization, and enhanced data support. If you want to create content for Silverlight, you'll need Expression Studio and Visual Studio. Microsoft Silverlight can stream high-resolution video well and supports HD-quality videos. If your bandwidth drops below 3Mbps, smooth streaming will kick-in so that your video isn't affected.

The smooth streaming feature will iron out many of the streaming problems that have plagued Silverlight in the past. The out-of browser player however is dependent on developers embracing it and as yet, there are few examples available. The most important improvements to the latest version of Microsoft Silverlight are smoother streaming, DRM management, and an out-of browser player. There is no prompt to restart the browser after installation but I recommend you do so because the first site of Silverlight content I accessed after installation simply crashed the browser. It works with most major browsers, including Firefox and Safari. Microsoft Silverlight is a lightweight plug-in that allows you to watch Silverlight-based content in your browser.

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