Scott Guthrie and Brian Goldfarb held a conference call in the morning (Pacific time) and used their time to discuss the launch of Silverlight 2. I took part in the web conference and jotted down some quick things which are worth noting, though here are some worthy facts which you can take a quick gander at right now:

• Anyone on Silverlight 1 or Silverlight 2 Beta will be automatically upgraded to Silverlight 2.0 (as written in the EULA). I asked Scott if Windows Server Update Services can block Silverlight from auto-upgrading on a business network. Answer: Yes.
• Changes from RC0 are limited in scope, basically bug fixes and minor UI tweaks to some of the controls.
• Content can be DRM’d, which makes sense given Blockbuster’s willingness to embrace Silverlight as a platform.
• Eclipse IDE support!

To download Silverlight 2, simply head here. Catch more tidbits of Silverlight 2 goodness after the break.

Usage and Deployment Statistics:

• One in Four customers, according to Microsoft, have access to a machine with Silverlight.
• NBCOlympics.com boosted United States Silverlight deployment by 30%.
• Silverlight 1 was used primarily to seed adoption by deploying a plugin with (comparatively) basic media support. Silverlight 2 will be deployed on top of these guys to bring the seeds up to date.
• Silverlight 2.0 will be roughly the same size as previous beta builds: 4.5MB, roughly a 10 second install time on a clean machine.

Third Party Statistics and Notes:

• NBCOlympics.com had 70 million viewers in two weeks. Video quality was at 1.5MBit/s
• Average time spent per user on NBCOlympics.com: 27 minutes, which is nuts!
• Companies which have Silverlight 2 plans today or will have something soon: CBS College Sports Network, Hard Rock Cafe, Toyota, AOL Mail Live (as discussed at MIX), Yahoo Japan, Blockbuster
• Example: Blockbuster’s implementation would be used for buying/renting films.

Expansion:

• Google Chrome deployment was a pain on earlier releases. The most recent Chrome dev release for Windows has the blocking issue fixed, so Silverlight should now work with Chrome without any issues. Thanks, Google!
• Apple does not want any browser extensions (e.g. Flash, Silverlight) on the iPhone at this time. Surprise!
• Android, on the other hand, is a route which Microsoft is actively investigating. Given Android’s open nature, expect a release here at some point.
• No word on whether Silverlight will come bundled with Windows 7 (or if that’s even legal, for that matter). More at PDC.
• Symbian has Silverlight on it thanks to an agreement between Nokia and Microsoft. This was announced back at MIX but will likely be reinforced as Microsoft tries to broaden Silverlight’s exposure to more platforms.
• Scott mentioned private testing with other manufacturers, and while he declined to mention any besides Nokia, Apple, and the Android OS teams, his “private testing” note fits well with what I’ve heard from sources regarding discussions between RIM and Microsoft for Silverlight integration on the next series of smartphones after the current (9000) series. This is separate from any rumored RIM/Microsoft buyout plans, of which I’ve got no word.

Development Support and Technical Data:

• Eclipse! http://www.eclipse4sl.org/
• Visual Studio support will be there, both via Visual Studio 2008 and Visual Web Developer 2008 Express Edition.
• Expression Studio 2 will also have full Silverlight 2 development support via service pack later this month.
• “Powerful” built-in controls:  DataGrid, ListBox, Slider, ScrollViewer, Calendar controls, Deep View, etc.
• The usual cross-platform support will still exist on Mac, Windows, and Linux (via Moonlight)
• .NET framework language support will be boosted to a ridiculous level: Examples: Visual Basic, C#, JavaScript, IronPython and IronRuby.
• Silverlight 2 will have its own in-house .NET framework, so .NET won’t be required on the machine beforehand. This is part of the 4.5MB download.
• DRM support.
• Advertiser support, data reporting, SEO, and the like.
• Full Screen keyboard usage is better than before but still limited in an effort to block spoofing attacks. Keys popular for gaming will be allowed, but the full gamut of keyboard strokes will not be accessible in full-screen mode.

Remember to download Silverlight 2 on October 14 if you don’t already have a previous version of Silverlight installed.