Silverlight 5, Counting Down to the First Details of What’s Next

Microsoft is gearing up to share the first details about the next version of Silverlight, its Adobe Flash alternative.

Today, Scott Guthrie, corporate vice president of Microsoft's .NET Developer Platform will keynote the Silverlight Firestarter in Redmond, Wash.

The event is scheduled to start at 9 a.m. PST on December 2, and it will have both onsite participants, as well as an online audience that can also stream and watch it live.

Announced for quite some time, the event was advertised as focused on the future of Silverlight. After all, the motto for the event is “The Future of Silverlight Starts Now.”

There are a range of surprises in store for participants which will actually make it to the software giant’s Redmond campus.

There’s even talk of free Windows Phone 7 devices and Kinect for Xbox 360 to be handed out by the Redmond company, so those that will attend the event in person might as well give themselves a pat on the back for their decision.

But at the same time, there will also be goodies for online participants. Guthrie will talk about the successor of Silverlight 4.

And while Microsoft has yet to confirm officially the moniker for the next version of the technology, there have been a few indications that Silverlight 5 is equivalent with vNext, even from the company.

Guthrie will also present a roadmap detailing the future of Silverlight, in order to make it as clear as possible that the technology will be around for year to come, a critical aspect in convincing developers to invest in it.

Sure enough, a range of additional content from demos to technical details will be shared with the public.

Below, users will be to watch “Scott Guthrie discuss the upcoming Silverlight Firestarter and what the folks watching it online and in person should expect to see and hear. The event kicks off with a keynote presented by Scott and the session agenda takes the audience on journey, showing how to develop business applications in Silverlight.”