Microsoft has launched its latest effort to “light up the web”, Silverlight 3.0, which is available for download.

Silverlight has come a long way since it’s inception at Silverlight version 1.0, which launched in 2007. Over the course of the past release, Silverlight 2.0, it has attracted big players, like Netflix, which now uses it for their streaming movie service as opposed to using an installer, NBC which used it to stream the 2008 Olympics, which was a great success. With version 3.0, Microsoft added a host of improvements and new features such as “Smooth Streaming” and “Out of Browser” capabilities. Another notable addition in Silverlight 3.0, web developers will appreciate the built-in support for GPU acceleration.

Silverlight 3.0 introduces more than 50 new features, including GPU acceleration, H.264 video support, and out-of-the-browser capabilities. The out-of-browser capability allows developers to bring their web applications to the desktop (we will have a video demonstrating this scenario in the coming days).

You can download and install Silverlight 3.0 by visiting Microsoft’s Silverlight website. If you’re a Silverlight developer or are interested in developing applications using Silverlight you can visit Microsoft’s Silverlight Developer website.