Microsoft Silverlight 3 available for download

Microsoft officials wouldn't say a month ago whether the actual Silverlight 3 bits would be available by the day of the official launch, which is July 10. But it turns out they are available a day earlier.

Those interested in the latest version of Microsoft's Flash competitor can download it from Microsoft's Web site. Here's where to get the Silverlight 3 bits.

(Gotta love the note on the download site: "Don’t Worry! We won’t install a bunch of additional stuff on your computer or try to sign you up for unwanted email." Wonder who they're talking about?)

Silverlight 3 includes a number of new features and updates. (Program Manager Tim Heuer has a pretty exahustive list of them.) I'm curious to see what developers do with Silverlight 3's offline/outside the browser capabilities.

What are the SL3 features and capabilities you're interested in?

Update: The Expression Blend 3 + SketchFlow Release Candidate test build (not final) are also available for download now.  Demonstrated at Mix '09 earlier this year, this is a "visual tool for designing and prototyping desktop and web applications." (Thanks to Softie Steve Clayton for the pointer.)

Update 2 (July 10): ArsTechnica has a list of all the Silverlight and Expression packaging and pricing options.