Erictric

Microsoft recently released Silverlight 4 in beta at the Professional Developers Conference [PDC] in Los Angeles, California. The beta is currently available for developers only.

Microsoft Silverlight 4 will be full of new features, including:

• More fluid animations
• Webcam, microphone, and printing support
• Start times up to 200% faster than Silverlight 3
• Deep zoom and multi-touch support
• Google Chrome support [Yes, finally!]

Microsoft has put Silverlight 4 in direct competition with Adobe AIR 2.0 with its ability to take rich-media applications that fully support HTML and web integration outside the browser. Silverlight 4 will also support notifications.

Microsoft demoed a Silverlight Facebook app created using Facebook’s API. The application contained news feed, contacts, and photos. Apparently, going through the photos is even much faster in the Silverlight Facebook application than in a browser. Below are some screenshots of what a Silverlight Facebook application would look like:

[ TechCrunch ]