Intel and Microsoft have announced a new port of Silverlight to Linux.

The port enables Intel to include Silverlight as a supported runtime in the Atom Developer Program, which will feed an iPhone-like App Store.

Microsoft has already provided Intel with Silverlight source code and test suites. There are a couple of surprising aspects to the announcement. One is
that a Linux version of Silverlight already exists, the open source Moonlight project.

Microsoft says the announcement is part of a high-level strategy in which Microsoft aims to bring Silverlight to as many platforms and as many devices as possible, in comparison to Moonlight, the work with Intel is "pretty far apart from a philosophical perspective, regardless of any technical similarities."