14 DAY TRIAL // Redmond-based software giant Microsoft has already started work on its next-generation Windows Mobile 7 operating system meant for smartphones, and it seems that it plans on implementing some interesting features in the client, including its Silverlight technology. The company already included Silverlight 3 in its recently released to manufacturing Windows Embedded CE 6.0 R3 platform, and it seems that it will make it in the mobile client as well.
“We are 100 percent dedicated to seeing Silverlight across all three screens – PC, TV and mobile,” Brian Goldfarb, a marketing director for Microsoft's Silverlight team, stated, The Microsoft Blog on Seattle-PI.com reports. His sayings are sustained by the recently announced inclusion of Silverlight into Intel's Moblin platform that should run on Atom-based devices (netbooks, handhelds and smartphones are all included in the list).
“We look at Silverlight as a sort of comprehensive runtime platform,” Goldfarb said. Basically, while until recently the technology was used as a media player or included as a platform in the development of visually rich Web sites, now Silverlight seems to have moved beyond that, and it is expected to become an environment for third-party application development, proving a great option against Adobe's Flash platform.
The “cross-browser, cross-platform, cross-device solution,” as Microsoft names Silverlight 3, should come with compatibility with a series of applications and content already available on the market today. Microsoft will have to work hard on this matter so as to offer Silverlight a chance to become successful, especially when it comes to its presence on mobile devices, and its capability to deliver an enhanced user experience for handset owners.
As many of you might already know, this is not the first time Windows Mobile 7 and Silverlight are seen together in the same article. Even so, until now the support for Silverlight was only rumored to come with the future iteration of the mobile client, but it can be considered a sure thing for the time being. It remains to be seen what experiences the technology will be able to offer to Windows Mobile 7 users when they reach the market together next year.