Pro Business Applications with Silverlight 4

Chapter 1. Introduction

Silverlight is a web-based platform from Microsoft that can be used to build rich Internet applications (RIAs). Of the many new possibilities it enables, one receiving a lot of attention is its huge potential as a platform for building business applications. Despite its relative youth (having just reached its third birthday), it has achieved remarkable maturity, with its development progressing at a rapid rate—now at version 4. With just nine months separating versions 2 and 3, and a further nine months separating versions 3 and 4, its tremendous growth in that short time demonstrates the enormous amount of effort and commitment that Microsoft is pouring into Silverlight to bring it to the forefront as one of its core development ...