Microsoft to open source some of Flash competitor Silverlight

Microsoft is revealing the source code of its alternative to Flash at MIX07 next week in order to make the product more popular with the Web developer community and to compete with Adobe.

According to sources at inforworld.com, Microsoft will also release a beta of Silverlight, a browser plug-in that allows Web content providers to offer a rich video and interactive media experience from directly within Web sites.

The technology leverages Vista's new graphics framework, Windows Presentation Foundation, and Microsoft is promoting it as a direct competitor to Adobe's Flash tool and delivery mechanism for rich multimedia content on the Web.