Silverlight 3 Beta - all links and features

The Silverlight 3 beta was officially unveiled at the MIX09 conference yesterday . This is primarily for developers and enthusiasts, not for end users. Let me remind you that the final version will be released before the end of the year.

In order to try new features today you need the following :

• Silverlight 3 Beta Tools for Visual Studio
  
• Silverlight 3 Beta developer runtimes: Windows or Mac (set automatically with the previous one)
  
• Microsoft Expression Blend 3 Preview
  
• Silverlight toolkit
  
• .NET RIA Services
  
• Silverlight 3 Beta Documentation - Online or .chm file
  

Important! After installing Silverlight 3, you can run sites made for previous versions. But you can not create applications for previous versions.

Silverlight 3 Beta materials are slowly appearing in English. We will prepare a lot of material for the ReMIX conference in Russian.
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Briefly about the new features of the third version (or rather, the current beta version):

1. High quality video and audio support
   
   • Live broadcast and availability of HD video (720p and above) on demand with dynamic changes in signal quality depending on the current channel
   • Support for new formats - H.264 based on MPEG-4, AAC Audio
   • New features of full-screen playback, including HD-quality using hardware GPU-acceleration
   • Raw AV format support for creating third-party codecs
   • The ability to protect content through DRM
   
   
2. New graphics features
   
   • Perspective 3D graphics
   • Pixel shader effects
   • Graphics caching
   • New API for drawing graphics
   • Support for graphic themes for applications
   • Animation effects
   • Additional features for styling controls
   • Improved text rendering and fonts
   
   
3. New opportunities for creating interactive applications (RIA)
   
   • Over 60 pre-built source controls
   • Deep linking for creating links within the application
   • Search Engine Optimization Options
   • New features for working with data - linking between elements, Data Forms, data validation, support for business objects
   • Improved performance - library caching, new Deep Zoom features, binary XML, local linking between Silverlight applications
   
   
4. Ability to work without a browser
   
   • Support for shortcuts on the desktop and the main menu of the operating system
   • Run without browser
   • Sandbox protected mode
   • Easy installation of applications without administrator rights
   • Built-in auto-update applications
   • Automatic detection of Internet connection and work without it
   • Integration with Windows 7 - taskbar, multi-touch
   
   
5. Accessibility Features
   
   • Access to all system colors to create contrasting interfaces for visually impaired users