I'm no MSFT fanboy, but Silverlight does seem to be a real step up from Flash, which is the next closest thing out there. I agree that it's extremely premature for anyone to say something like "Silverlight will be the platform of choice for developers who build rich Internet applications", but it would not surprise me if Silverlight gains wide adoption (as long as it truly is as cross-platform as Microsoft claims).

Of course, it's possible that the APIs and development tools suck despite all the hoopla and good features. I haven't looked at the beta SDK.

But will they open source it, like Adobe did with Flex?

Making it cross-platform (in the short term) is a great strategy, because then, if it gains acceptance, they can force you back on Windows in the long run (assuming it stays closed during that time span).

It won't be long before they bundle it with IE and then start adding features that only work with IE. I don't think microsoft has the patience to do it any other way.

Also it's now becoming clear why microsoft was never interested in putting support for SVG in IE.

It reminds me of how LGATs work. (large-group awareness training)

Stuff a bunch of people in a room for ten hours. Only let them leave twice to go to the bathroom.

By the time they get out, they'll believe aliens are the new messiah and Microsoft is just a friendly non-monopolistic software development company.