Microsoft has released Silverlight 3, after being in beta testing since March 2009.

Silverlight 3.0 includes over 50 new features, including graphic processing unit (GPU) acceleration, 3D support, H.264 video support and out-of-the-browser capabilities to Silverlight.

A full list of features can be read on the Silverlight website. Silverlight 3 is available for Windows and Mac OS X today.

Microsoft has confirmed to Silverlight 3 beta testers that Silverlight 3 will be released to the public on July 10th, much earlier than the original expected date of Q4 2009.

Silverlight 3 adds many new features, including 3D support, local graphics acceleration, and H.264 video.

Silverlight is Microsoft’s answer to Adobe AIR and Flash, and is available on PC and Mac. The current beta can be downloaded from Microsoft.