14 DAY TRIAL // The first Beta development milestone of Silverlight 5 has been announced at MIX11 in Las Vegas and is now available for download.
With Silverlight 5 hitting Beta this week, the technology is right on track to reach the RTW (release to web) milestone by the end of 2011.
Microsoft is offering the Silverlight 5 Beta Developer Runtime for Windows and the Silverlight 5 Beta Developer Runtime for Mac, as well as a set of additional tools and resources for the next generation of Silverlight.
Obviously, it will still be a while before Linux users get a Moonlight equivalent of Silverlight 5, with development of the Silverlight port for the open source operating system trailing behind the Windows and Mac versions.
“Microsoft Silverlight is a powerful tool for creating and delivering rich Internet applications and media experiences on the Web. Silverlight 5 builds on the foundation of Silverlight 4 for building business applications and premium media experiences,” the software giant stated.
“Among other capabilities, the Silverlight 5 beta highlights dramatic video quality and performance improvements, and features that improve developer productivity.”
In total, Silverlight 5 will bring to the table over 40 new features compared to its predecessor.
Along with the beta bits, the Redmond company also provided the Silverlight 5 Features Document, an optional download, but one that might come in handy to those looking for a bit of insight into the technology.
It might also serve to watch the video embedded at the bottom of this article in order to get an idea of what’s new in Silverlight 5 Beta.
Microsoft selected the following top Beta features to highlight in Silverlight 5:
“- XAML Debugging with breakpoints for binding debugging
- Implicit data templates for easy UI reuse
- Double (and multi) click support
- GPU-accelerated XNA-compatible 3D and immediate-mode 2D API
- Low-latency sound effects and WAV support
- Real operating system windows and multi-display support
- Significant performance improvements, fixes and much more.”
Make sure to keep your eyes on Softpedia, and I’ll provide additional information about the tools and resources accompanying the Silverlight 5 Beta releases.