Silverlight 3 is RTW, Expression Blend 3 with SketchFlow is RC – go get them!
Just nine months after the release of Silverlight 2 in October 2008, the new version is here: Silverlight 3 has been released today!
Next to Silverlight 3 you can also find the RC version of Expression Blend 3, including SketchFlow. This RC version targets Silverlight RTW version so you can start using it already to build Silverlight 3 applications. In this RC release you will also find the first public release of SketchFlow.
Where to get the downloads:
- Silverlight 3 runtime – https://www.microsoft.com/silverlight/resources/install.aspx
- Developer runtimes: Windows and Mac
- Silverlight 3 Tools for Visual Studio 2008 SP1
- Silverlight 3 SDK
- Expression Blend 3 + SketchFlow RC
- Silverlight Toolkit – also updated for Silverlight 3 RTW
Next to Silverlight 3, a new release of .NET RIA Services is also available. Note however that .NET RIA services has not been released (RTW), it is an update to the preview version.
And not to forget Deep Zoom Composer targeting Silverlight 3 is also available. This version includes some new features like slideshow support, links and menus.
So what is new with this Silverlight 3 release? Well, quite an extensive list, just look at this page on the Silverlight community site which has a feature comparison chart. My favorites are: Out-of-browser support, multi-touch support (Silverlight on Windows7), Perspective 3D, BasedOn styles, effects, behaviors, DataForm, etc.
Recommended resources
- Scott Guthrie’s blog post on the main new features in Silverlight 3
- Tim Heuer’s blog post with all the links and a list of breaking changes since the Beta version
Enjoy (the light)!