MS Takes Aim At Adobe Flash With Silverlight

Microsoft has announced the India availability of Silverlight 1.0, its answer to Adobe Flash, a cross-browser, cross-platform plug-in that delivers media experiences through the Web.

Silverlight integrates with existing Web technologies and with this, businesses can offer richer and more interactive Web applications at a lower cost of delivery. Silverlight is available to end users for free download from the Web.

Tarun Gulati, general manager, Developer and Platform Evangelism, Microsoft India said, "Many companies in India and across the world today are using path breaking customer experience as a competitive advantage for their businesses, and we believe that Microsoft's products such as Silverlight, Expression, WPF will allow companies to take this to the next level in an easy, cost effective manner."

Since its international release to Web, over 40 customers have delivered over 60 applications for Silverlight from more than 20 countries around the world and Sify.com, Rediff.com, Indian Cricket League and Sulekha.com have plans to deliver Silverlight-based experiences for their viewers and customers.

In addition to Silverlight 1.0, Microsoft has also recently launched, a complete product suite -Expression Studio - for the designer community, focused on enabling better collaboration between designers and developers.

Together with Visual Studio 08, Expression Studio and Silverlight will allow easy and seamless creation of rich user experiences. Microsoft is working with Novell Inc to deliver Silverlight support for Linux, called Moonlight.