As Microsoft prepares to make Silverlight more ubiquitous, the company is using its own reach on the Web to promote its use. The company has been using Silverlight on some of its own Web sites, confirmed Brian Goldfarb, group product manager, developer platform, at Microsoft.

Silverlight is not a required download to view the sites and users can opt out when prompted to download Silverlight, "but they will miss out on some great rich media content," he said.

Microsoft also has been using Silverlight as the delivery mechanism for some company-generated video, and its use was indeed required in at least one of those instances. Last week, a participant had to download Silverlight to view CEO Steve Ballmer's keynote Webcast live from the Microsoft's Windows Server launch event in Los Angeles.

Goldfarb said Microsoft will continue to use Silverlight more and more as part of its Web content delivery strategy, including Webcasts and other video presentations on the Web.

Microsoft also is leveraging partners to promote Silverlight adoption. One of the first partners to develop on Silverlight and use it as a delivery mechanism, MLB.com, now requires the use of Silverlight for baseball enthusiasts to view games, audio and video. And at MIX, AOL is expected to demonstrate a free Web mail product built on Silverlight 2, according to AOL.