Where can I get the Silverlight 2 Bits? – Question of the Day

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So, you may have seen that we’ve finally wrapped up Silverlight 2. The details are here.

There’s a lot of good stuff in that announcement, and I’ll get to them in tomorrows post. But first, where are the bits?

They’re coming. Soon. Honest. You should see the runtime bits going online in the next few hours (it’s not 7:30 PM PST and I’m watching the Giants losing against the Browns, boo!).

Anyway, just watch Silverlight.net and the Microsoft download center, and they’ll soon be there. Honest. Ditto for the Visual Studio Tools, and other goodies that you’ll need to build your Silverlight apps.

I’ve also been getting inundated with questions on what happens when different combinations of users hit your site. So here’s my best effort at answering, considering the default install states are used.

If your site is a Beta 2-based site, when a Beta 2-based user hits it, it will work.

If your site is a Beta 2-based site, when an RTW-based user hits it, then will get an install badge. Clicking this (once the bits are live) will give them the RTW install. Clicking this (right now, before the bits are live) will give them a ‘Coming Soon’ page.

If your site is a Beta 2-based site, when a user without Silvelright hits it, they will get an install badge as above.

If your site is a RTW-based site, when a Beta 2-based user hits it, they will get an install badge. Once this bits are live (in the next few hours), they’ll get the RTW bits, otherwise they’ll get ‘Coming Soon’

If your site is an RTW-based site, when a user without Silverlight hits it, they’ll get an install badge. Once the bits are live (in the next few hours), they’ll get the RTW bits, otherwise they’ll get a ‘Coming Soon’

Finally, if your site is Beta 2, and your user has Beta 2 bits, everything will look fine. However, at some point in the next 2 weeks, the auto update will kick in for them, and they’ll get RTW bits. At this point your site won’t work.

My advice therefore is to create if you have a Beta2-based application to keep it, and build an RTW-based XAP. You can then post them side-by-side using the method I outlined in a previous post here.