Silverlight and .NET - This is HUGE!
Incase you've missed the announcement, Silverlight (previously known as wpf/e) is a new technology that will empower developers to create rich Internet applications. These applications will run on various platforms (Windows, Mac) from a web browser (IE, Firefox, Safari) using an easy-to-install browser plug-in. You may ask yourself, how is that any different from Flash? Well, the difference is enormous. Let me outline why:
- The applications can utilize a subset of the .NET framework using the developer's managed language of choice (C#, VB.NET, etc...). Let me re-iterate that. You can now take advantage of managed code on the CLIENT SIDE on platforms that do not have the .NET Framework installed!
- The managed code can interop with the HTML elements on the page.
- JavaScript can interop with the managed code on the client side.
- Communication with Web Services and WCF services is possible.
- XAML can be used to provide the UI. Telerik is already working on a set of controls for Silverlight.
- Isolated Storage is available to applications (up to 1MB)
There are more features to Silverlight that I will not mention at this time. But the above list outlines why this is such an important announcement. Visit the Silverlight web site for more information on getting started.