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As promised, Silverlight 2 is now not merely released, it is really and most sincerely released… If You Are A New Silverlight Programmer If you are taking this occasion to become a Silverlight programmer, welcome! Everything you need is here on the Get Started Page. I suggest you follow this order: download and install the areas marked (1), (2) in the upper left corner, then skip down to Start Learning and read (1) Next mix (4) and (5) together and leaven with (2) and (3) as appropriate. By the time you finish, we'll have a lot more for you and if you have questions, you'll get quick answers on the forum If you are already a Silverlight Programmer 1. All your Beta code just broke . With luck, you were using the RC0 release and you have non-Beta code standing by ready to drop in. Now's the time to do it. If not, now's the time to get the new tools and update. 2. What you need to start coding in Silverlight 2 – While there is quite a bit you can download, all you need is Visual Studio SP1 or Visual Web Designer Express SP1 Silverlight Tools For Visual Studio Microsoft Blend 2 Service Pack 1 Mac Runtime [optional] The combination of Blend 2 + Blend 2 SP1 is the updated Blend 2.5, and the Silverlight Tools + either VS SP1 or VWD SP1 is the complete Silverlight Development environment + the SDK + the documentation + the developer runtime + the debugger + the ASP.NET Server controls + the Project templates! 3. This is the last time Silverlight will not be backwards incompatible – from now on when we update, your code should continue to work. (at least, that's the plan) 4. What's new, what changed? You'll find a lot of information on this in Scott Gu's Announcement which is very much worth reading. I'll be expanding on this in detail in coming posts, with an emphasis on reviewing the rich controls, and exploring some aspects of the base library such as Linq support, local data caching, network support and enhanced media support. You'll note that even the familiar controls look more polished; a lot of work went into their final default look – though as many of you know, every Silverlight control is ultimately lookless, subject to templating (skinning). Silverlight 2 brings the Silverlight Control Pack – with dozens of additional controls, and a promise of new controls being added continually over the next few months leading to a total of over 100. The first control pack will include the TreeView, DockPanel,...
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