Right on schedule, Microsoft delivered its Silverlight 1.0 platform yesterday. Silverlight is a cross-browser, cross-platform plug-in for delivering richer user experiences on the Web, and has been the subject of a lot of talk in the rich content delivery field in the past months. Basically, Silverlight is a development platform that makes it easy to develop rich media content delivery using Microsoft’s Windows Media Technologies.

Our expectations for compelling, immersive experiences on the Web are increasing daily… With today’s release of Silverlight 1.0, we’re making it possible for developers and designers to deliver to individuals the kind of high-def experiences they crave by integrating data and services in rich and unique ways. Silverlight will further accelerate the growth in rich interactive applications by giving developers and designers new options for delivering great experiences that span the Web, PC, phone and other devices.

Apart from Silverlight, Microsoft is working with Novell on developing the Linux counterpart for Silverlight, called Moonlight, which is a direct response on feedback received from the development community. This has been based on a previous project on mono-project.com . With the recent shifts in Microsoft’s strategy (turning towards online applications which are platform independent), it makes a lot of sense that Microsoft is engaging more and more with the Linux audience. Why different names for two things that are virtually the same (just working on a different OS) is beyond me, but Silverlight and Moonlight kind of sound like reflections of each other in the mirror.

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