Microsoft Silverlight rivals Flash, AJAX [Video]

Redmond’s new rich Internet application boasts strong development tools, a small browser footprint, and cross-platform support

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Microsoft’s much-touted and much-anticipated RIA (rich Internet application) entry, Silverlight, lets Web developers and designers create “rich, engaging user experiences with 2-D graphics, animation, images, media, and video,” to use Microsoft’s own description. Silverlight competes in this arena with Adobe Flash and Flex, with OpenLaszlo and Curl, and with a variety of AJAX (Asynchronous JavaScript and XML) frameworks.

As I’ve written before, RIAs comprise a spectrum of application types and technologies. Silverlight is Microsoft’s entry in the middle of the “weight” spectrum. It joins the Microsoft AJAX Library, which falls at the lightweight end, and Microsoft .Net Smart Client applications, which occupy the heavyweight end. Microsoft Silverlight 1.0 incorporates a subset of the .Net Framework and supports JavaScript. Microsoft Silverlight 1.1, currently in alpha tests, incorporates a larger subset of the .Net Framework and …