MIX 07 - Silverlight shines brighter!

Today, the Microsoft MIX conference kicked off with Ray Ozzie and Scott Guthrie giving the opening keynotes.

We did make a number of new announcements today which I summarize as the next wave of Silverlight. A couple of weeks ago at NAB, we talked about Silverlight as a cross-browser, cross-platform run-time that enables media and interactive content and application scenarios. Today, we are building on that with .NET programming support for Silverlight to enable rich interactive application scenarios. In addition, we also announced Visual Studio and Expression Studio tools support for Silverlight.

We have a rich array of languages support, tools and run-time offerings which not only provides the best experience for the web and client, but offers developers the widest choice of tools. For example, with the introduction of our Dynamic Languages Platform, you can now utilize the best language choice for your exact need – even mix and match where needed to increase your productivity, and most of all deliver a rich, quality product to your end-users. We are also releasing our Dynamic Languages under shared source to enable you to fully understand how they work, how best to use them and how you can use them to build your own.

In addition to providing further support for IronPython as a Dynamic Language, we are introducing a new language offering – IronRuby. With the IronRuby announcement, even in its current CTP form, we are able to show interop with statically typed .NET libraries, and code written in JScript, VB, and Python. Since this implementation runs on top of the .NET platform, you can write Silverlight applications in Ruby on supported browsers for Mac and Windows.

The DLR is what makes all of this possible. It is a layer of software that supports dynamic languages running on the CLR. It provides a shared set of language services such as a dynamic type system, fast dynamic dispatch, smart code generation, and a hosting API. It layers on top of the CLR, which provides its own set of shared services such as a world class JIT and GC, sandboxed security model, and debugging/profiling interfaces.

As of today the Microsoft Silverlight 1.0 Beta is now available including a Go Live license which means customers can deploy their Silverlight applications. Also we have made available the Microsoft Silverlight 1.1 CTP, offering broader tools and language support for the future of Silverlight. The CTP focuses on Visual Studio-based support for Web standards development, including ASP.NET AJAX with full IntelliSense editing for client and server code, powerful cross-platform debugging, and rich language support for JavaScript, C#, VB, Ruby, Python, and more.

We also announced an alpha version of Silverlight Streaming, a companion service for Silverlight that makes it easier for developers and designers to deliver and scale rich media as part of their Silverlight applications. Silverlight Streaming is a storage and video delivery service that will enable developers and designers to upload their application to Silverlight Streaming and then deliver this application to any website globally.

With these technologies and products, we are taking a huge step forward to deliver a comprehensive client application platform and a consistent tool set that spans standards based web to rich interactive applications to the desktop and devices.

Namaste!