We got a heads up on when we’d first see the first release of Silverlight 2, and now we have a timeframe to look forward to for the final version. Silverlight 2.0 RTM is expected to be ready by Summer 2008. With Silverlight 2 beta 1 released, beta 2 is expected in Q2CY08, probably in May. Beta 2 will contain the full set of namespaces, as well as the final set of controls, but neither of these has been revealed. While the changes between beta 1 and beta 2 will be quite significant, not much will change between beta 2 and the final, save bug fixes and tweaks here and there. Websites developed using version 1.0 will be compatible when 2.0 comes out. The download size may increase a little bit, but the final size is, of course, still unknown.
Microsoft is trying to keep the download size of the Silverlight installer as low as possible. There aren’t many plans for adding support for more formats in Silverlight. Although Silverlight currently supports playing VC-1, WMV, MP3 and WMA content, it is unlikely that it will support arbitrary codecs because of licensing costs and because the download size would grow substantially. Silverlight currently supports the MMS streaming server protocol and this is also unlikely to change. On the other hand, Flash may not have .gif support, but Silverlight hasn’t ruled it out. The idea is still being discussed: the main issue is the amount of work needed to integrate animated .gif functionality into Silverlight’s animation scheme.
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