Hey, first off congratulations Microsoft finally no longer has to use Flash for *rich media* on it's own websites.. As a Flash/3d Artist, i just had a look at it, now i like to mention a few things.. here i go:


[Silverlight VS. Flash VS. AJAX VS. DirectX10 VS. Nextgen WEB 3d - PART 1]
Silverlight, compared to Flash is:1. missing a rightclick menu:
       - Settings
       - About Silverlight™ (logo or text)
2. not allways using a (system-) handcursor for button actions
       (not sure if this was just turned of by the artist.. )
3. not offering (~advanced) effects like blur, dropshadow etc.
       (flash now has, and it's great)
4. loading way slower and less smoothly then flash
       (flash's compiled code is running better then xaml? anyway..)


That so far, but since i followed the whole Vista/WPF thing i really expected more then microsoft just jumping badly on the (flash-) bandwagon..  so what about 3d now??^


[SHORTTERM]
Basic Hardware 3d
(DirectX8, backfalling to CPU rendering on 3rd party OS, using lower texture res. etc)
        -> on user request: "The website contains 3D Content, like to      show? Yes/No"
       -> btw, www.holomatix.com, great software, uses java..


Search Engine Compatibility
-> Timeline-page-system
     - The Authoring tool's (Flash?Smiley)  timeline is divided into "pages"      (comparable to stages in flash)
         ..by that, the authoring automatically outputs any text/image content also as (x)html+CSS, trying to match the applications layout.
-> the *<div id="container">* is switched by .js to the Silverlight content
-> Searchengines  (who can't read .js,) read the (x)html
-> Users without plugin read the xhtml + CSS

[LONGTERM]
Advanced Hardware 3d Mode (not just for games..)
"This website likes to show Advanced Hardware 3D Content:
   Your WEI-rating is sufficient.
   Like to show this content? Yes/No?"

-> Full DX10/ Pixelshader support (..inside the sandbox?)
-> Ready to use game-engine features
         - shader model 4.0 pixel shaders
         - render-to-texture reflections
         - parralax-normal-mapping
         - multilayer textures
         - HDR Lighting system
         - Soft shadows etc.


..Can't be so hard as a  worldleader™Smiley To be continued..