14 DAY TRIAL // Silverlight 5 will be released to manufacturing this month, according to Scott Guthrie, vice president in the Microsoft Developer Division.
Guthrie revealed the info in a video posted by the Microsoft .NET User Group, but did not offer a specific availability deadline.
However, Microsoft traditionally launch Silverlight releases just as they hit RTM, and according to Mary-Jo Foley, Silverlight 5 RTM downloads could go live as early as this week.
In the video embedded at the bottom of this article, skip forward to about 0:12:00 and you’ll hear Guthrie promise that the final version of Silverlight 5 is right on track to shipping in November 2011.
“Silverlight 5 is going to ship next month,” Guthrie revealed on October 26th, adding “It’s a pretty major release.”
The Release Candidate for Silverlight 5 launched at the start of September 2011, and continues to be available for download.
Personally, I think that Microsoft purposely didn’t introduce Silverlight 5 RC at BUILD, although it could have. And it’s not because Silverlight 5 could have stolen any of Windows 8’s limelight.
Over a year ago, in November 2010, Bob Muglia, president of the Server and Tools Division at Microsoft, was confirming that the Redmond company’s Silverlight strategy and focus going forward had shifted.
It was only natural that this would happen, especially considering the increasing importance that HTML5 has started to play.
But although, Microsoft stressed that it was committed to Silverlight, considering it of strategic importance, various questions have been asked about the future of the technology, especially since the software giant announced a shift in strategy, and the embracing of HTML5.
As it does with all its next-generation releases, Microsoft is not exactly dishing on its plans for the successor of Silverlight 5.
With Silverlight RTM yet to be released, it’s without a doubt a tad early to start talking about Silverlight 6, but I think the real issue is that developers want to hear Microsoft promise there will be more releases of the technology.