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Silverlight is Microsoft's cross-platform development platform for rich media applications, such as website interactive features. In an October interview during the company's Professional Developers Conference (PDC) 2010, Bob Muglia (right), president of Microsofts Server and Tools Business, accidentally ignited some controversy in an interview with ZDNet by saying "Our strategy has shifted," adding that "HTML is the only true cross-platform solution for everything, including [Apples] iOS platform."Accurate though these words might have been, they were misconstrued as a lessening of Microsoft's devotion to Silverlight. In a Nov. 1 posting on the Silverlight Team Blog, Muglia assured developers that the technology remains "very important and strategic to Microsoft." He added, "The purpose of Silverlight has never been to replace HTML, but rather to do the things that HTML [and other technologies] cant, and to do so in a way thats easy for developers to use."
Furthering its commitment, Microsoft recently staged an all-day "Firestarter" event for developers -- still viewable online -- that provided a roadmap for the introduction of Silverlight 5. To include more than 40 new features, along with better performance and enhanced video quality, the upgrade will be available in beta form sometime during the first half of 2011, the company says.
Meanwhile, though, the previous Silverlight 4 version is now available for both Windows Embedded Standard 2009 and Windows Embedded Standard 2009, according to a posting on the Windows Embedded Standard blog by Microsoft's Lynda Allen. As she notes, the software is available on the Embedded Communications Extranet (ID and password required) and intended for use in conjunction with Windows Embedded Standard application templates.
Separately, an informative article by Technical Evangelist Olivier Bloch compares and contrasts this "full" Silverlight version with Silverlight for Windows Embedded. The latter is an implementation for Microsoft's Windows CE-based operating systems, which include Windows Embedded Compact and Windows Embedded Automotive, among others, he writes.
Bloch notes that Silverlight for Windows Embedded currently supports user interfaces written using Silverlight 3 XAML, but relevant tools differ. In Silverlight 3, he writes, Microsoft Expression Blend is used to edit both XAML and C# and also support project and source code files compatible with Visual Studio, so that a developer can work on the same project and source files (XAML and C#).
In Silverlight for Windows Embedded, Microsoft Expression Blend 3 is used to edit XAML only, according to Bloch. C++ code is edited in Visual Studio 2008, while a tool called Windows Embedded Silverlight Tools will generate C++ code from the XAML source code, he adds.
Bloch also reiterates, "As you have read all over the Web, Microsoft is definitively not pulling the plug on Silverlight, but on the contrary will make it even better and greater to support specific scenarios."
Further information
Olivier Bloch's article on the differences between Silverlight and Silverlight for Windows Embedded, which includes an extensive, detailed table, may be found on Olivier's Embedded Blog.
