Microsoft today announced the availability of Silverlight 2, the company's second generation solutions for the creation and delivery of applications through a Web browser.

Silverlight 2 delivers a range of new features and tools.

Microsoft also announced further support of open source communities by funding advanced Silverlight development capabilities with the Eclipse Foundation?s integrated development environment (IDE) and by providing new controls to developers with the Silverlight Control Pack (SCP) under the Microsoft Permissive License.

"Silverlight represents a radical improvement in the way developers and designers build applications on the Web. This release will further accelerate our efforts to make Silverlight, Visual Studio and Microsoft Expression Studio the preeminent solutions for the creation and delivery of media and rich Internet application experiences," said Scott Guthrie, corporate vice president of the .NET Developer Division at Microsoft.

Highlights of new Silverlight 2 features include the following:

- .NET Framework support with a rich base class library. This is a compatible subset of the full .NET Framework.
- Built-in controls. These include DataGrid, ListBox, Slider, ScrollViewer, Calendar controls and more.
- Advanced skinning and templating support. This makes it easy to customize the look and feel of an application.
- Deep zoom. This enables interactivity and navigation of ultrahigh resolution imagery.
- Networking support. Out-of-the-box support allows calling REST, WS*/SOAP, POX, RSS and standard HTTP services, enabling users to create applications that easily integrate with existing back-end systems.
- Expanded .NET Framework language support. Silverlight 2 supports a variety of programming languages, including Visual Basic, C#, JavaScript, IronPython and IronRuby.
- Content protection. This now includes Silverlight DRM, powered by PlayReady.
- Improved server scalability and expanded advertiser support. This includes new streaming and progressive download capabilities, superior search engine optimization techniques, and next-generation in-stream advertising support.
- Cross-platform and cross-browser support. This includes support for Mac, Windows and Linux in Firefox, Safari and Windows Internet Explorer.

More information and details about Silverlight 2 are available by reading the Silverlight 2 fact sheet at http://www.microsoft.com/presspass/presskits/silverlight/default.mspx.