Microsoft shows off IE8 and Silverlight betas

Microsoft has unveiled betas of IE8, Silverlight and Expression Studio

Microsoft has previewed new betas of Internet Explorer, Silverlight and Expression Studio at the MIX08 conference in Las Vegas.

Ray Ozzie, chief software architect at Microsoft, said during his keynote that the web is at the centre of everything the company is doing.

"The investments we are making will enable developers and designers to deliver a range of seamless, connected experiences across the continuum of web applications, rich clients, mobile and other devices," he said.

Internet Explorer 8 beta is the first version of Microsoft's latest browser to be released to the public.

The application sports better support for CSS and Ajax, among other developer platforms. It also has enhanced security features and new developer tools.

Microsoft also released a beta version of its latest Silverlight program, offering a new zoom-in feature known as Deep Zoom along with 40 new controls and a .Net base class library.

The company has already announced a deal with Nokia to port Silverlight to Symbian S60 OS and series 40 tablet devices.

Developers were also offered a new version of Microsoft's Expression Studio 2. The web design and development suite now fully supports Visual Studio and features upgraded support for PHP and Silverlight.

A new subscription service for Expression Studio will offer developers new applications and learning tools.