Microsoft allowing Silverlight to mix with .Net

At its Mix07 web developers conference, Microsoft pushed further for making Silverlight as a cross-platform strategy, for allowing devlopers and designers to use technology other than AJAX / Javascript for developing web applications.
Continuing with its campaign to promote Silverlight as a Flash-killer, Microsoft fused a full portable version of .Net with Silverlight. This is supposed to allow developers the ability to mix their Silverlight apps with .net, even on non-Windows systems.
Silverlight is currently in Beta, with the final version likely to be released this summer. This will be an epic challenge. Adobe has the designer market, and will be loath to allow anyone else to take control over it. With the recent release of Creative Suite 3, Adobe would want to make sure that designers stick to the combination of Flash, Flex, Photoshop, and Dreamweaver; while Microsoft will use its power to try and get more traction for its Expression series of products.
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Microsoft kicked off its Mix07 web developers' conference by revealing it has fused a full portable version of its .Net runtime with the next version of its Silverlight 'Flash-killer' technology.
"The web has been mostly about DHTML and AJAX," Ozzie said. "But AJAX has limitations...and there are better languages than JavaScript for the sophisticated applications that developers want to build."
Ozzie also said that web and graphic designers and developers will have free use of Microsoft's Windows Live Platform, a web storage service, to store, run and show off their Silverlight applications and videos.

With all this, designers should be enjoying this battle, since it gives them more options, and these mega companies will also be more sensitive to their concerns.