Silverlight is a free plugin from Microsoft that allows Windows and Linux PCs as well as Macintoshes to display fancy animated ads, run minisoftware or games, or play DVDquality video, all inside the Web browser. Until today, Silverlight was known as Windows Presentation FoundationEverywhere WPFE. It remains in development, though users can download the plugin and try out sample content today.Previously, Microsoft had mostly talked up WPFE’s ability to match Adobe Systems Inc.’s dominant Flash player in more traditional rich media areas.But Forest Key, a director of product management at Microsofts server and tools division, bluntly claimed the superiority of Silverlight, along with Microsoft’s upcoming Expression design and video encoding tools, on the lesstalkedabout video front.Flash has some video capabilities, and some success in that market, Key said. But Silverlight offers better video quality than Flash, while the Expression tools will be cheaper, faster and better than Adobe’s offerings, he claimed.Key has some credibility to back up what on the surface sounds like unwarranted cockiness. Before joining Microsoft several years ago, Key was a senior manager at Macromedia Inc., where he helped oversee Flash.

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