Starting Silverlight

[ Links for the tools are updated for Silverlight 2. Some of the sites listed below may not been updated yet and contain beta 2 applications and links. ]

Hi all,

My blog has survived a few months and I was posting on somewhat random articles and applications. Some of my friends have started learning Silverlight and asked me to share some links and samples. Here is my list.

Tools

Basic thing you need....
Install Silverlight 2 runtime from here.

Essential for all....
Expression Blend 2
Expression Blend 2 SP 1
Deep Zoom Composer (Used for a feature called DeepZoom in Silverlight)
Silverlight 2 Documentation

If you are interested in design....
Expression Design 2 Trial.
Expression Encoder Trial.

If You are interested in programming....
1. If you don't know C#, start learning basics of it. The basic would be sufficient for building simple Silverlight applications.

2. If you have C# background, probably you have worked with Visual Studio. If not, install it and play a little time with it. Silverlight 2 needs Visual Studio 2008 and you can get a trial version from here. You also need to install SP1 for VS 2008.

3. Install Silverlight Tools For Visual Studio 2008. (It also installs Silverlight plug-in for the browsers if it is not there).

Optional but will help you....
Get an live account and you can get 10 GB of hosting space free for the Silverlight applications you build. Get it here.

Learning materials

I am completely new. Where from I start?
Silverlight.net has a great collection of tutorials and videos. You can start from the quick start tutorials.
Using Expression Blend
QuickStart (Mainly for the programmers but designers might see it to get an idea)

You can also start by watching the videos.

Try building something as soon as you feel you can create a simple application.

I am a Flash Developer. Where from I start?
1. You need the basic tools described in the first section.
2. Here is a link that will help you use your existing skills to building Silverlight application.

I know the basics and wanna dig into deeper.
There are some videos and tutorials focused on some advanced topics in Silverlight.net.
You will get a complete set of resources here.

Hey. Let me see some cool samples before I start.
You can find big list of excellent applications created in Silverlight here and here.

PS: Actually you can find almost everything in the Silverlight Community Site. It has a great forum that helps in every type of problems you face working with Silverlight.

Some Other Links

You can get a detail listing of tools and materials here.
Overview
Wikipedia link. :) Don't you think it is a must?
An Excellent Video Tutorial.
Another Big List.

Actually nothing new here. But I think this blog would be incomplete if I don't stack some useful links up.