Microsoft releases Silverlight

Microsoft last week announced the official release of Silverlight 1.0, the foundation for the development of media players user interfaces and its challenge to Flash.

The platform is described as "very glossy" by Matteo Berlucci, who's using it in the LiveStation media player his company is developing with the support of Microsoft. Berlucci is co-founder and CEO of Skinkers, the London concern building LiveStation, which is in limited beta and on display at IBC in Amsterdam.

The Windows and Mac versions are available now. A Linux-compatible version dubbed "Moonlight" in the works under a partnership with Novell. The Web is full of media players; there's not exactly a screaming need for one more, unless it initializes super fast and works smoothly. We'll see.

For More:
- ars technica has a summary of the release here
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Coverage from PC Magazine is here
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SilverLight is here 

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