# Improved media support and rich UI capabilities:
* Hardware Decode and presentation of H.264 improve performance for lower-power devices to render high-definition video using GPU support.
* TrickPlay allows video to be played at different speeds and supports fast-forward and rewind. At up to twice the speed, audio pitch correction allows users to watch videos while preserving a normal audio pitch.
* Improved power awareness prevents the screen saver from being shown while watching video and allows the computer to sleep when video is not active.
* Remote-control support allows users to control media playback.
* Digital rights management advancements allow seamless switching between DRM media sources.

# Building next-generation business applications:
* Text improvements make it possible to build rich magazine-style text layouts:
- Multicolumn text and linked text container allow text to flow around other elements.
- Tracking/leading set precisely how far apart each character is for full creative control.
- Text clarity is improved with Pixel Snapping.
- Text layout performance is significantly improved.
- OpenType support has been enhanced.
* Applications can now work the way users expect with added support for double-click and Combobox type ahead.
* Model View ViewModel (MVVM) and Databinding enhancements allow more work to be done more easily via XAML:
- Debugging support now allows breakpoints to be set on a binding, so you can step through binding failures.
- Implicit DataTemplates allow templates to be created across an application to support a particular type by default.
- Ancestor RelativeSource allows, for example, a DataTemplate to bind to a property on the control that contains it.
- Binding in style setters allows bindings to be used within styles to reference other properties.
- The DataContextChanged event is being introduced. Markup extensions allow code to be run at XAML parse time for both properties and event handlers, enabling cutting-edge MVVM support.

# Networking and Windows Communication Foundation enhancements:
* Reduced network latency by using a background thread for networking.

# Performance improvements include:
* Reduced network latency by using a background thread for networking.
* XAML parser improvements that speed up startup and runtime performance.
* Support for 64-bit operating systems.

# Graphics improvements:
* Graphics Processing Unit (GPU) accelerated 3-D application programming interface (API) provides rich graphics on the Web for building advanced data visualizations and rich user experience (UI).
* Immediate mode graphics API allows direct rendering to the GPU.
* Hardware acceleration is enabled in windowless mode with Internet Explorer 9.

# Extends features of the ‘Trusted Application’ model to the browser for the first time. These features, when enabled via a group policy registry key and an application certificate, mean users won’t need to leave the browser to perform complex tasks:
* Host HTML content as a Web browser control within the Silverlight application. HTML pages, such as help content or e-mail, can be integrated within the application.
* Read and write files to the user’s My Documents folder, making it easier to find media files or create local copies of reports.
* Launch Microsoft Office and other desktop programs. Users can open Microsoft Outlook and create an e-mail message, or send a report to Word utilizing the power of Office.
* Access devices and other system capabilities by calling into application COM components. Users can access a USB security card reader or a bar-code scanner.
* Enjoy full keyboard support in full screen, which enables richer kiosk and media viewing applications.
* Call existing unmanaged code directly from within Silverlight with PInvoke.

# Tools improvements include:
* Microsoft Visual Studio profiling support including CPU, memory, thread contention.
* Visual Studio Team Test support.