• by Gavin O'Malley  @mp_gavin, June 13, 2007

Continuing to roll out its Silverlight plug-in media player, Microsoft has partnered with online video services provider Maven Networks.

Now, when consumers visit broadband video sites powered by Maven--20th Century Fox, A&E Television Networks, CBS's CSTV, Hearst, Sony Pictures Television, Univision Online--they can choose either Microsoft's Silverlight or Adobe's omnipresent Flash player.

Maven's move to adopt Silverlight was largely consumer-driven, according to Todd Boes, vice president-product marketing, Maven Networks.

"People who've already invested in the Windows Media format drove this partnership," Boes said.

Microsoft earlier this year launched Silverlight--a plug-in for playing media files and displaying interactive Web applications--as part of a full suite of cross-platform Web development tools for both Windows and Mac operating systems.

Addressing Microsoft's previous failed attempts at cross-platform applications, Boes said he had complete confidence in Silverlight.

"Consumers wanted a cross-platform experience, and from what we've seen, this is truly cross-platform and cross-browser," Boes said.

Given the rapid growth of rich media-enabled content and online video, any platform that's able to compete with Adobe's Flash represents an important source of revenue for the software giant.