Microsoft Fires Up Silverlight 2

Stronger content protection, deep zoom, and skinning support are among the features Microsoft has piled into the latest version of its Flash competitor.

After boosting market penetration for Silverlight in the U.S. alone by 30 percent during the Beijing Olympics, Microsoft leveraged the burgeoning support for its Flash competitor on Tuesday by releasing Silverlight 2. The next generation of the software will integrate a number of technical tweaks designed to make it more powerful and interoperable with different systems.

For instance, deep zoom will allow viewers to look further into high resolution imagery, while new skinning support will allow developers to tailor the look and feel of applications to different consumers. The company has also added to the list of built-in controls for app builders to play with and expanded support for .NET framework language support.

Content protection, another staple of Microsoft’s game plan, has also been improved with Silverlight DRM, powered by PlayReady, which will make it more difficult for hackers to hijack streaming audio and video content.

Silverlight 2 is available immediately from Microsoft both as a free download. Existing Silverlight users will automatically receive the update.