As RIAs become more sophisticated, the difference between desktop applications - programs that live on your hard drive - and Web-based programs begins to fade away. On the World Wide Web, these applications have a special name: Rich Internet Applications ( RIAs). Programmers can create complex, user-interactive Web applications using Silverlight technology. It gives Web developers the ability to incorporate streaming video, audio and animation into Web pages. Silverlight requires developers and users to download a client - Web browsers can't process Silverlight content without this download. In many ways, it's similar to Adobe Flash. One of those applications is Microsoft's program Silverlight. But in order to build, view and interact with these new features, programmers have had to create new applications. With the most advanced Web sites, it's almost like getting pulled into a movie. Today, you can visit Web sites that incorporate video, animation, sound and interactive features. But the Web has grown more complex over the years.
Back then, most Web pages consisted of static text, a few images and the occasional looping (and often irritating) MIDI sound file. Browsing the World Wide Web has changed a lot since the early 1990s.