What Silverlight is and how it differs from WPF

Silverlight, formerly known as Windows Presentation Foundation Everywhere (WPF/E),

is a crossplatform version of WPF. Basically, it is a subset of WPF that can run on a Mac or PC.

WPF can only run on Windows Vista or Windows XP with .NET 3.0 or later installed (Windows XP ships

with .NET 2.0). There are other differences, but most important is that WPF can make use of

3D objects, while Silverlight can do some faking of 3D, but not true 3D. This is because WPF

can make use of the host machine’s graphics card, while Silverlight cannot, as it is difficult to

port 3D hardware acceleration across different platforms. The final difference is that Silverlight

integrates right into an HTML page by using the Silverlight browser plug-in, while WPF needs to

be inserted into an iframe to mix with HTML content. Silverlight is still being developed, so the

differences I have just explained may not exist in future Silverlight releases.