Silverlight 3 SDK Updated

Microsoft has updated the resources available for developers, set up to streamline building applications based on the latest iteration of Silverlight. At the end of August 2009, the Redmond-based company kicked up a notch Silverlight 3, and accompanied the refresh with an update to the Silverlight 3 Software Development Kit. Devs can now grab the new release via the Microsoft Download Center.

Essentially, Microsoft has tailored the Silverlight 3 SDK’s libraries and tools to the Silverlight 3 GDR 2 Build 3.0.40818. However, the company has shared little details about just what the SDK for Silverlight 3 GDR 2 Build 3.0.40818 brings to the table. Despite this, the software giant confirmed that there were indeed small updates to the Silverlight 3 SDK designed to go along with the release of the second GDR.

Developers should know that while the Silverlight 3 runtime and SKD were refreshed, the same is not valid for the Visual Studio tools. Microsoft informed that devs could continue using the past release of the Visual Studio tools, and offered no information related to future updates.

“Before installing this Silverlight 3 SDK, please remove any previous Silverlight 3 SDK install,” Microsoft noted. “If you have installed or plan to install Microsoft Silverlight Tools for Visual Studio 2008, please skip installing the Silverlight SDK directly. Silverlight 3 SDK is installed by Microsoft Silverlight Tools.”

Silverlight 3 GDR 2 Build 3.0 is the second General Distribution Release Microsoft is offering for Silverlight since the technology was released to web earlier this year. Silverlight 3 GDR 1: 3.0.40723 brought with it only refreshes to the runtime. The full build string of Silverlight 3RTM is 3.0.40624, offered on July 10th, 2009. The latest release, Silverlight 3 GDR 2 Build 3.0.40818, went live in early September.

Silverlight 3 SDK is available for download here.

Silverlight 3 RTW is available for download here.

Microsoft Silverlight 3 Tools for Visual Studio 2008 SP1 are available for download here.