Microsoft unveils new content partners, DRM for Silverlight

When it comes to rich Internet applications, Adobe’s Flash dominance is undisputed. But Microsoft’s competing Silverlight technology appears to be gradually gaining ground, with the company touting for several months now that downloads of the Silverlight browser plug-in are averaging around one and a half million per day.

Now, the company is celebrating a year of progress since Silverlight’s debut by unveiling a number of new content partners, including Madison Square Garden Interactive, Terra Networks Operations, and Yahoo Japan, all of which will be using Silverlight for video distribution and Internet services.

In addition, the software giant also unveiled details of an upcoming DRM technology for streaming live content, called Silverlight DRM – a feature sure to make studios more likely to adopt Microsoft’s offering. It is based on Microsoft’s PlayReady technology and is expected to be available later this year when Microsoft releases Silverlight 2.