What happens in Vegas, stays (normally) in Vegas

This is a live update from the Las Vegas Microsoft MIX’08.

Has Microsoft finally seen the (Silver) light?

In the huge lobby of the Venetian Hotel Casino eneryone gossips around the new Hard Rock ‘Memorabilia 2.0′ online tribute to rock culture…

Since 1971, Hard Rock has amassed more than 70,000 items, including historic instruments, wardrobe pieces, public records and other priceless objects displayed in locations around the world. The ‘Memorabilia’ collection spans everything from famous guitars played by Eric Clapton, Jimi Hendrix and The Edge, to the wicker settee where John Lennon penned many of his songs, to a pair of Buddy Holly’s eyeglasses, to the Beatles’ “Magical Mystery Tour” bus.

“Hard Rock was looking for innovative ways to allow more fans to experience the rock ‘n’ roll history it represents,” says Sean Dee, Hard Rock’s chief marketing officer. “But of course the Hard Rock Memorabilia is extremely valuable and difficult to move, so we wanted to find a more practical way to bring the collection to a broader audience around the world. With Silverlight, we were able to build an application that allows us to make our collection accessible and highly interactive for millions of fans worldwide.”

This silverlight powered website use the new SeaDragon technology to serves up high-resolution images of Hard Rock’s memorabilia and allows fans the ability to zoom in on tiny details.

“The user experience is turned upside-down,” says Vertigo design and development house CEO Scott Stanfield. “This was a big, big jump in terms of what we can create and offer to our clients and their users. We’re down to the grain of leather on somebody’s jacket or the individual wire wraps on the ‘E’ string of a guitar. You can see inside Buddy Holly’s glasses and see the inscription from the manufacturer.”

Sit back, relax, get silverlight 2.0 beta plugin and enjoy!