Silverlight 4 is Here
posted Sunday Apr 18, 2010 by Nicholas DiMeo
Silverlight has been in the news a lot lately, and we have been avid supporters of Microsoft's Flash-combatant and have kept everyone up to date on their successes and shortcomings. Well, more great things at happening on the Microsoft front, as along with the announcement of Visual Studio 2010 and .NET Framework 4, Microsoft has launched Silverlight 4!
What's so cool about this version? How about support for webcam and microphones, to start. Throw in a little better plug-in compatibility with Google Chrome to go along with the already supported browser array of Internet Explorer, FireFox and Safari.
Silverlight has been pushed to be the easiest way to build and deploy data-driven business applications cheaper than a complete .NET environment. Not only that, but they have even boasted that the technology is easily comparable to that of Adobe AIR. To prove it, version 4 has features like print support, clipboard support and charting capability.
Microsoft didn't leave the developers empty-handed. They are offering a broader set of controls, improved networking support, support for right-to-left languages and a better XAML parser to make it easier for desktop developers to apply.
And it doesn't stop there, folks! Silverlight is available on more than 60 percent of the computers connected to the Internet! Microsoft is hoping to brilliantly expand their portfolio with the launch of Silverlight 4, and have already started by being the platform for the streaming side of the 2010 Winter Olympics. They hope to continue their success with WinPho 7, which will contain an altered version of Silverlight 3 that third-party developers can use to create their applications.
