Microsoft® Silverlight™ is a cross-browser,
cross-platform, and cross-device plug-in for delivering the next
generation of media experiences and rich interactive applications for
the Web.
There is plenty of information available now on the internet about the
high and low level details of building Silverlight web applications.
I started this website as an experiment first and foremost to see
how easily OSS Silverlight applications can be embedded in regular
websites. Second, I just want to learn more about building
websites in general and eventually to host a website of my own, whether it be
personal or related to my work at OSS Nokalva, Inc.
What I found interesting and fascinating is that with the right tools it
is sufficient to have basic skills to start developing Silverlight web
applications. A dedicated person with little or no
programming experience can start creating rich web applications very
easily. As of the time of writing this blog (October
2008), these tools are:
Microsoft Visual Studio 2008 SP1
Microsoft Silverlight Tools for Visual Studio SP1 Microsoft
Expression Blend 2
Microsoft Expression Blend 2 SP1 RC Preview
Microsoft Silverlight 2 RC0 Developer Runtime
The applications built with the above set of tools will only work with
the Silverlight 2 RC0 Developer Runtime. All applications built
with the older Silverlight runtime, such as Silverlight 1 and
Silverlight 2 Beta 2, may or may not work correctly with Silverlight 2
RC0. So the purpose of Silverlight 2 RC0 release was to allow
developers to test their applications with the latest Silverlight
runtime release. The final Silverlight 2 release is expected later
this year. At that time, everybody running older versions of the
Silverlight runtime and those running RC0 will be automatically prompted
to upgrade.
Microsoft Visual Studio 2008 SP1 and Microsoft Expression
Blend 2 are commercial products and as such must be either
purchased or obtained legally via alternative channels, such as MSDN.
A trial version of Microsoft Expression Blend 2 is also
available and can be used. As to Microsoft Silverlight 2 RC0 Developer
Runtime, it is included and installed as part of
Microsoft Silverlight Tools for Visual Studio SP1.