According to an eWEEK Lab’s review, the new software suite could be a more significant Microsoft release than the long-awaited Vista operating system, which launched last month.
Microsoft’s Expression Studio consists of Expression Blend, the new name for the company’s Interactive Designer; Expression Web, previously known by the codename Quartz; Expression Design, the new name for Expression Graphic; and Expression Media, which is the new tool.
“In its most basic form, Expression Web is the successor to Microsoft's FrontPage web authoring application,” eWEEK reviewer Jim Rapoza said. “However, eWEEK Labs' tests show that Expression Web is much more than that: While we always looked at FrontPage as a fairly basic web editing tool that fell short when it came to serious web development, Expression Web has taken a big leap in functionality and capability — to the point where it is a serious competitor to the leader in web authoring, Adobe's Dreamweaver.”
Expression Studio, which is now in a public beta testing period, is expected to ship in the second quarter of 2007.
Chris Howard, an analyst with the Burton Group, said the new suite of products allows web designers and graphic artists to work together without translating from one format to the next.
“Now, a graphic designer using Expression Design hands off XAML-based assets to an interaction designer,” Howard said. “The interaction designer combines those assets into a user experience, using Expression Blend, where the structure of the solution is created. That solution is opened by a software engineer in Visual Studio and complex application logic is added. No more Photoshop-to-Visio-to-Visual Studio reinterpretations. The result: final product that is truer to original design and less time wasted redoing work because of incompatible tools and asset formats.”
Howard added that the new suite of products, known as Windows Presentation Foundation/Everywhere technology, could be a potential flash killer.
“WPF/E promises to integrate more easily with HTML than Flash does, but both require JavaScript as a bridge between the page and the embedded media object,” he said. “It's unclear how willing people will be to shift allegiances from those entrenched tools, but initial feedback from professionals has been very positive.”