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Microsoft tidak mau ketinggalan, sejak keluarnya teknologi AJAX ( Asyncronous Java And XML) Microsoft langsung mengadaptasi teknologi ini kedalam .NET frameworknya. Selang beberapa waktu kemudian Microsoft sendiri mengeluarkan teknologi serupa dengan dalih lebih canggih dan kompatible dengan .NET Framework.

Teknologi ini lebih dikenal dengan nama Silverlight dengan code name (“WPF/E”) dari Microsoft sebagai teknologi untuk membangun “Next-Generation” dari aplikasi web.

“Microsoft Silverlight is a cross-browser, cross-platform plug-in for delivering the next generation of .NET based media experiences and rich interactive applications (RIAs) for the Web. Silverlight offers a flexible and consistent programming model that supports AJAX, Python, Ruby, and .NET languages such as VB and C#, and integrates with existing Web applications. Silverlight media capabilities include fast, cost-effective delivery of high-quality audio and video to all major browsers including Firefox, Safari and Internet Explorer running on the Mac or on Windows. By using Expression Studio and Visual Studio, designers and developers can collaborate more effectively using the skills they have today to create Silverlight web experience.”

Silverlight as Part of a User-Experience Continuum
Now, more than ever, customers are demanding applications and online experiences that not only meet their individual needs in terms of effectiveness and efficiency, but also address the perception of satisfaction the user has with a company’s products or services. In most cases, the level of satisfaction will have a network and an emotional effect, shaping perceptions of the company as a whole, and, as an extension, the perceptions of those with whom the individual comes into touch. Microsoft acknowledges this connection and has a made a renewed commitment to user experience (UX) as a part of the end-to-end experience. UX is more than a pretty UI; it is the aggregation of the interaction point of a user with an application. Our mission is thus to enable a great user experience wherever the customer needs that: on the Web, on devices, in Office, and in Windows.

Two recent examples of Microsoft’s own investment in UX are Microsoft Windows Vista and Microsoft Office 2007. By focusing on the end-user experience first, subtle and somewhat radical changes were made to both products in order to address productivity and satisfaction.

• Windows Vista introduces easier ways to visualize and organize your files, media, and communications. In every case of the UI, a focus on user-centric task accomplishment and experience was put first. Other examples of focusing on UX include the new task switcher (Alt+Tab) and Wi-Fi signal notification.

• Microsoft Office 2007 has introduced the new “Ribbon” concept to replace traditional toolbars. A natural extension, the ribbon reduces time to find any given feature in an Office application to about 10 seconds.

Both of these decisions were heavily influenced by design and designers, working collaboratively with the rest of the development team. To learn more, visit http://www.microsoft.com/design

From a platform perspective, Microsoft introduces a consistent offering that uses common skills to address the different application-interaction surfaces, as indicated in Figure 1.

• ASP.NET AJAX offers the benefits of standard Microsoft support (around-the-clock support for a period of 10 years) for AJAX-enabled applications built around Web standards. It allows standard Web applications to be more effective by improving the interaction parameters of the application (such as refresh, resource usage, and navigation).

• For Web experiences that need 2-D animation, vector graphics, and high-fidelity audio and video on the Web, Silverlight is being introduced to extend the capability of the browser to render XAML in addition to HTML. By embracing Web architecture for development, including industry-standard AJAX (Asynchronous JavaScript+XML) and inline XML markup (XAML) for presentation, Microsoft is working to break rich elements on Web pages out of the “black box” that exists today. As an added benefit, content authored in Silverlight and ASP.NET AJAX becomes more discoverable while offering the benefits of being cross-platform (Windows and Macintosh) and cross-browser (Internet Explorer, Firefox, Safari).

• ASP.NET AJAX and Silverlight are designed to be complementary technologies. In the broader sense, Silverlight can interact with any AJAX application, both client- and server-side. Examples for such integration include mapping applications, video playback with rich presentation, and more.

• For connected applications on Windows, Microsoft provides the .NET Framework 3.0 programming layer (shipped in Windows Vista and available for Windows XP) that includes the Windows Presentation Foundation (WPF). By using WPF, one can create rich, immersive, connected applications and experiences that can take full advantage of the Windows platform, including UI, media, offline communication, and document support. WPF uses a superset of the same XAML that is used by Silverlight.

Untuk lebih jelas kunjungi link dibawah ini http://msdn2.microsoft.com/en-us/library/bb428859.aspx