Microsoft Corp today announced the availability of Silverlight 2, a comprehensive solution for the creation and delivery of applications and media experiences through a Web browser.

Silverlight 2 delivers a wide range of new features and tools that enable designers and developers to better collaborate while creating more accessible, more discoverable and more secure user experiences, said a company statement.

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.

“We launched Silverlight just over a year ago, and already one in four consumers worldwide has access to a computer with Silverlight already installed,” said Vimal Sethi, director, Developer and Platform Group, Microsoft Gulf.

“It is without doubt, one of the fastest-growing browser plug-ins in history, both in terms of customer adoption and consumer installations. 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 pre-eminent solutions for the creation and delivery of media and rich Internet application experiences.”

Silverlight adoption continues to grow rapidly, with penetration in some countries approaching 50 percent and a growing ecosystem that includes more than 150 partners and tens of thousands of applications. In the Gulf, several customers are successfully piloting the new web technology and partners have been trained on the application, he said.

A leading web agency in Dubai, Impact Proximity, recently received training on Silverlight.

Speaking about the product, Syed Azeem Afzal, technical director, said: “We use bandwidth intensive applications in our daily work so it was imperative for us to ensure that our video player environment be both consumer friendly and robust. Silverlight was the perfect choice to help develop and power our new, exclusive online collegiate sports experience, as it features the best price and performance of any streaming media solution on the market today. Silverlight also gives us the most flexibility in expanding the product in the future as we develop embeddable players and mobile platforms and explore new advertising integration opportunities.”

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.

• Powerful 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 unparalleled interactivity and navigation of ultrahigh resolution imagery.

• Comprehensive 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. Unlike other runtimes, Silverlight 2 supports a variety of programming languages, including Visual Basic, C#, JavaScript, IronPython and IronRuby, making it easier for developers already familiar with one of these languages to repurpose their existing skill sets.

• Advanced content protection. This now includes Silverlight DRM, powered by PlayReady, offering robust content protection for connected Silverlight experiences.

• Improved server scalability and expanded advertiser support. This includes new streaming and progressive download capabilities, superior sear