What is Microsoft Silverlight and why do I need it?

I can't believe that all I see here is the same question, over and over from the same person. No one seems to know the answer, but are quick to direct him to a tutorial that seems not to exist.

The three hardest words for some people to say are" I DON'T KNOW.".

Try saying it in front of a mirror. In time, it should become second nature.

But I really dont know.  :(

On Wed, 30 Jun 2010 03:58:53 +0000, xy_jeff wrote: "Can someone explain the benefits of MS Silverlight (both Pros and Cons)? Sorry to ask and I might be able to figure it out if I had time to open it up and see exactly each feature does, but just from opening the program up for the first time; I'm not sure that I need it or what it is for exactly? Thanks in advance for any insight someone can give me. You need it if you want to go to web pages that use it. If you don't, you don't need it. As far as I'm concerned, you should have it, since it gives you the ability to go to web pages you might want. Ken Blake "

Seriously? There are 27 stupid people out there apparently. Why on earth would ANYONE mark this post helpful? It does nothing to answer the original question, all it does is show the author is an **** who needs to be fired.

This is what I know about Silverlight...It delivers a new generation of high-quality audio and video, engaging media experiences, and interactive applications for the Web.

In a way, Silverlight is much like Adobe's Flash in that it enables a bunch of functionality that "plain old HTML" simply doesn't support such as animation, video, multimedia and more. In fact, Silverlight is considered in many ways a Flash competitor. May not be necessary yet but somewhere down the road it will probably be something that we WILL need. Microsoft is very persistent on getting you to download things that may be unnecessary. Regardless they will keep pestering you until you finally give in and download. I have seen no real difference between Flash and Silverlight with videos, but may be only option in the future. Microsoft wants control of everything, since they are your platform they feel as though you are owned by them and you owe them to download all their personal updates. Well hope this answers your question and have a great day...