While attempting to download Expression Blend SP1 and the Blend 2 December CTP, I was prompted with a dialog that said I was randomly chosen to participate in the beta for the next version of Microsoft's Download Center.  I was a little hesitant because I just wanted to get my file and move on, but I went ahead and checked it out.  I'm glad I did.

I'm always disappointed when I see a new Microsoft page or site built with Flash assets.  I don't expect Microsoft to rewrite existing assets, but if they are not willing to commit to Silverlight with new content, I don't expect anyone will.  Fortunately, Microsoft is finally making a serious commitment to Silverlight.  The home page and many secondary pages of the download center are built entirely with Silverlight. 

Looking at the home page, above, I figured Silverlight was just used for the top banner, which cycles through various products Microsoft is highlighting.  But the entire page is Silverlight.  Aside from the scrolling product highlights and the accordion menu on the top-right, there isn't much rich interaction.  Most everything else is just links.  Clicking on the Download Categories menu option pulls up the following page, also entirely Silverlight-based. 

The above opens in a separate page with a seemingly separate Silverlight app.  There is no rich transition or animation from the home page to here.  Clicking on any of the specific download links then opens the legacy HTML-based download page - again, without a rich transition.

The download center looks like a nice but fairly conservative site with some AJAX usage for asynchronous loading of the various content panels and DHTML/JavaScript for the banner and menu animations.  They could have done a lot more to demonstrate the RIA capabilities of Silverlight.  With very little rich interaction or animation, there certainly wasn't a compelling technical reason for wholesale Silverlight-based page implementations.  But there are very compelling business reasons to do it.  I'm glad to see Microsoft is finally taking serious steps to drive adoption and grow the installed user-base.  I hope this will be done with all new or updated Microsoft web properties.