Jaime Rodriguez posted a nice financials sample built using Silverlight 2 Beta 1.  Very cool and gives you a nice taste of some of the power of Silverlight 2.

SLMicroBlog: TBJ adds The tips allowed us to get our libraries converted for Silverlight in about a day and a half.

SLMicroBlog: TOD: Listen to Silverlight Cream Blogmeister Interviewed on on Sparkling Client at http://tinyurl.com/6qa7on JL

SLMicroBlog: New Silverlight 2 Videos Posted, 2 by Tim, 1 by me and 1 by Ronnie Saurenmann at http://tinyurl.com/6hdsp7 -JL

Did you know that the current version of Silverlight is “2” beta1. (Not 2.0 )

Silverlight 2 beta 1 is out for a while now but people are still using Silverlight “2.0″ in some of their blogs. Seems like they are not aware of what happened to Silverlight version these days.

I noticed about this changes when Yi-Lun wrote “Silverlight 2 (not 2.0)” in one post of Silverlight forum. I was wondering why 2? why not 2.0 that we are familiar with. I didn’t keep silent and I did ask him about that. So, he forwarded me the response from Microsoft Marketing team as below.

In general both Expression and Silverlight are trying to stick with much less geeky product version names and numbers. For example we use ‘Preview’ instead of ‘CTP’. Version 2 instead of 2.0, etc.

At this moment the shipping release of Expression and Silverlight aren’t yet aligned. Expression Blend 2 supports the shipped Silverlight 1 release for example. Silverlight 2 is such an important release for our users that we are committing to shipping a version of Expression Blend before Expression Blend 3 concurrent with the formal release of Silverlight 2. As this will ship before Expression Blend 3, we need to call it something. Thus Microsoft Expression Blend 2.5.

This response will clear all of our questions related to the version of Expression Studio, Blend and Silverlight. I think it’s good to know. That’s why I’m sharing about this with you all. Thanks to Yi-lun.

The Tuttle madcap Adventures Starlight charity challenge pairs having a good time with doing good. A first of its kind fundraising initiative Starlight Starbright Childrens Foundation has partnered with Legacy Interactive on the development of this original game. Learn more about how you can help in this clip and see how you can win through their unique Facebook challenge.

Technorati Tags: Silverlight del.icio.us Tags: Silverlight If you attended MIX08 you would have had a free sample copy of my Silverlight 2 book in the attendee bag. The book has 3 chapters, one on XAML, one on Silverlight 2 in Visual Studio and one on…(read more)

At this time (version 2 Beta 1), in the life of Silverlight there is no 64-bit support.  I'm not certain if or when 64-bit support will appear, but I don't think Vista 64-bit users should go without Silverlight. And the good news is they don't have to.

In most cases, running Silverlight applications should not be an issue.  IE7 and Firefox run in 32-bit mode by default allowing Silverlight to run as expected.

A different scenario which needs some attention is Sidebar Gadgets that use Silverlight.  The Windows Sidebar application (sidebar.exe) runs by default in 64-bit mode and in order to use a Silverlight-based gadget you need to run sidebar.exe in 32-bit mode.

You can do this simply by closing the default Sidebar and navigating to C:\Program Files (x86)\Windows Sidebar and double-clicking sidebar.exe.  Now you can successfully run the new Channel 9 gadget or Xbox Friends Watch in your sidebar and enjoy knowing what the latest C9 video or or when your Xbox friends are online.

If you’re happy with the results, you can make sure the 32-bit version of Sidebar is added to your system startup by following the step below:

1. If you are still running the 64-bit Sidebar, right-click the Sidebar and select Properties.
2. Uncheck the Start Sidebar when Windows starts option and hit OK
3. Open C:\Program Files (x86)\Windows Sidebar in Windows Explorer
4. Right-click sidebar.exe and select Copy
5. Right-click the Windows Orb and select Explore
   
6. In Windows Explorer navigate to the folder entitled ..Programs/Startup
7. Right-click in the folder and select Paste Shortcut

It’s been a busy few months getting ready for NAB and a lot of people within our development, marketing and business teams have been very busy. I am glad to see it all coming together. In case you missed the news we announced several key things today at NAB.

First - Our efforts with Move Networks continue where we are showing some of the integration work we have been working on together. We demonstrated the best of Move’s network delivery with the best of Silverlight’s user experience allowing rich interaction between the two and overlay video and silverlight content on top of HD video. This is the first step in a great partnership between the two companies and important as we continue to extend and enhance our platform to be the best delivery and user experience platform for online content delivery.

Second - We announced PlayReady support for Silverlight and broad industry support from companies like Netflix and Paramount Pictures. Microsoft has a long history of 10+ years with DRM technologies and broad adoption of it’s current DRM platform throughout the industry. Today we announced that we are tightly integrating the next generation of our DRM platform called “PlayReady” into Silverlight. In case you also missed it, Widevine also announced the ability to integrate thier DRM system as another option for content protection into Silverlight and BuyDRM announced support for handling large scale DRM transactions supporting Silverlight. There are several reasons why this is important to note. Silverlight is a development platform, it’s not just a media player trying to be a development platform. I know I keep saying this, but we have engineered it to scale and to allow the mass army of developers building rich applications to extend support for Silverlight.

Third - We announced key partnerships that extend the worldwide adoption of Silverlight. Yahoo! JAPAN, Tencent, M-Net, iTV, Terra Networks, to name a few. This broad support continues to demonstrate our commitment to localize the runtime and provide rich cross platform support across the globe. It’s important to note because the success of Silverlight is not just driven by US adoption, but our focus worldwide. Just as Yahoo! Japan has broad user adoption in Japan, Tencent is China’s largest Internet portal, with more than 300 million unique viewers, and announced it is developing a series of Silverlight-based next-generation Internet services and media experiences. Terra Networks is using Silverlight as the platform for the new HD Channel on Terra TV, its online video and TV platform with service in 18 countries in Latin America and United States reaching millions of subscribers around the world.

So overall a busy day for all of us, and our partners and another day of growing our install base for Silverlight.

For more news you can check out the following news stories:

NAB Roundup Day 1
http://newteevee.com/2008/04/14/nab-roundup-day-1/

Microsoft Touts New Content Partners, DRM For Silverlight
http://www.dbtechno.com/internet/2008/04/14/microsoft-touts-new-content-partners-drm-for-silverlight/

Yahoo Japan to use Microsoft Silverlight technology
http://stuff.techwhack.com/3443-yahoo-japan

Microsoft Continues Silverlight Push
http://www.efluxmedia.com/news_Microsoft_Continues_Silverlight_Push_16363.html

Microsoft’s Silverlight Gaining Ground - and DRM
http://www.ecommercetimes.com/story/62582.html?welcome=1208218218

More money pouring into rich media; Move Networks adds more funding
http://blogs.zdnet.com/Stewart/?p=816

Move Raises $46M
http://newteevee.com/2008/04/14/move-networks-raises-46m/

Widevine and Microsoft team up for DRM on Silverlight
http://blogs.zdnet.com/Stewart/?p=814

Microsoft, Silverlight and Widevine
http://opinion.latimes.com/bitplayer/2008/04/microsoft-silve.html

Microsoft Silverlight and SOA
Colin Harrington - http://colinharrington.net/blog

Silverlight is gaining ground with Content Companies Worldwide
Desinformado.com Technology… - http://www.desinformado.com

Microsoft, Silverlight and Widevine
AFI BLOG: Media and Technology - http://blog.afi.com/tech

SLMicroBlog: Today: Live Webcast on Event Handlers in Silverlight 2. Noon Eastern; http://tinyurl.com/5nqfwr - JL