What is Microsoft's equivalent to a Java applet?

Question

What is the easiest way to make something similar to a Java applet using Microsoft technologies, preferably .NET (pre 3.0, I'm looking at .NET 2.0 specifically).

By similar to a Java applet, I am reffering to a light-weight application that can easily be called by HTML code and is optimized for nice animations.

Answer 1

Sounds like you're talking about ActiveX controls.
These would only be compatible with IE.