14 DAY TRIAL // When it initially said that Silverlight was a cross-browser plug-in, Microsoft meant that it would be running on Windows, Mac OS X and Linux. However, the Redmond company’s alternative to Adobe Flash has evolved quite a bit since it was introduced, and a Beta development milestone is now available for Nokia’s Symbian mobile platform. Users of Nokia S60 5th Edition devices, including Nokia 5800 XpressMusic, Nokia N97 and Nokia N97 Mini, can now download and install the Silverlight for Symbian Beta. At the same time, developers have a range of resources available to get them started along projects leveraging Silverlight on Symbian.
“Silverlight includes a runtime that is optimized to display content on memory-constrained devices. Silverlight support for Nokia S60 5th Edition devices includes: the ability to view Silverlight applications in the mobile browser. Tools to build Silverlight applications that target devices,” Microsoft informs. Microsoft is defining Silverlight as the implementation of the .NET Framework designed to allow developers to put together both media experiences and rich interactive applications, which can subsequently be offered to users via the Internet.
At the bottom of this article, you will be able to find the download links for the developer tools that allow the building of Silverlight-based applications and content for Symbian devices. Microsoft has made available Expression Blend 2, Visual Web Developer 2008 Express with SP1, or Visual Studio 2008 SP1 with Silverlight Tools for Visual Studio 2008 SP1 for devs, but is also offering additional resources, such as Getting Started with Sivlerlight for Symbian Beta and Silverlight for Symbian Platform Reference.
“These resources will help developers understand the supported platforms, languages and features of the platform for Nokia S60 5th Edition as some best practices for converting desktop applications to run on a device,” Microsoft states.
Expression Blend 2 (free trial version) is available for download here.
Visual Web Developer 2008 Express with SP1 is available for download here.
Visual Studio 2008 SP1 with Silverlight Tools for Visual Studio 2008 SP1 is available for download here.
Silverlight for Symbian Developer Tools Beta is available for download here.
Silverlight for Symbian device runtime is available for download here.