The inauguration of Barack Obama as the 44th president of the United States is now but a day away, and Microsoft has more than just a front seat, as in fact it has managed to put its technology at the heart of the event. In this regard, the company informed that the Presidential Inaugural Committee had chosen Silverlight to provide online video access to inauguration events.

“Microsoft is proud to be part of this event by helping to bring the inauguration activities online,” Brad Smith, Microsoft general counsel, revealed. “Just as during the campaign itself, Internet technology is enabling people around the world to participate more directly in historic events in new and exciting ways.”

Silverlight was brought on board by the Presidential Inaugural Committee as a measure of producing an inclusive and accessible inauguration, via a Microsoft and iStreamPlanet collaboration. The two companies have built a rich media player experience based on Silverlight, in an attempt to provide an online gateway to the swearing-in ceremony.

“We welcome the opportunity to work with Microsoft again to demonstrate our expertise and ability to meet the challenges involved in such a watershed event in the history of webcasting,” Mio Babic, CEO of iStreamPlanet, said.

Come January 20, 2009, the PIC website will transmit live and on-demand the video streaming of Barack Obama's inauguration swearing-in event. The move is bound to benefit Microsoft's Flash killer, which at the end of the past year was already installed on 1 in 4 machines worldwide. “Microsoft Silverlight was built to enable people to consume online content in unique and engaging ways,” Scott Guthrie, corporate vice president of the .NET Developer Division at Microsoft, explained. “This will be a truly historic event, and we are honored to enable online viewers to participate and create really meaningful experiences.”

Silverlight 2 RTW (2.0.31005.0) is available for download here.