A diverse audience of developers and marketers gathered at MIX07 in Las Vegas to witness the latest from Microsoft in the areas of web services and AJAX.

The key story of the conference was having Ray Ozzie, chief software architect, and Scott Guthrie, general manager of the Developer Division, outlining Microsoft’s vision and road map for Microsoft Silverlight and how it fits into the company’s broader Microsoft .NET platform and tools effort.

A core component of Microsoft’s overall strategy for the Web, Silverlight is a cross-browser, cross-platform plug-in for delivering the next generation of .NET-based media experiences and rich interactive applications (RIAs). In addition to making the beta of Silverlight available for download, Microsoft announced new support for dynamic languages including Python and Ruby, powerful services integration and new tooling in the Expression Studio and the next edition of Visual Studio, code-named “Orcas,” for building Silverlight applications.

“Silverlight is an important aspect of our software-plus-services strategy focused on delivering great user experiences that span the Web, the PC and mobile devices,” said Ozzie (pictured). “It does so, in part, by bridging technical barriers that previously made it difficult for Web developers and designers to collaborate. As a result, Silverlight will play an important role in helping advance the Web with a platform for creating rich, interactive experiences.”

Optimized for the Web, according to Microsoft, Silverlight enables developers and designers to use existing skills and Visual Studio and Expression Studio tools to deliver media experiences and rich interactive applications. Silverlight works with any back-end Web platform or technology, integrating with existing infrastructure and applications, including Apache and PHP, as well as JavaScript and XHTML on the client. The Beta 1.0 release includes a go-live license, which means customers can deploy their Silverlight applications in production. Final availability of Microsoft Silverlight 1.0 is scheduled for summer 2007.