Robert McLaws: Windows Edition : Expression

March 5, 2008: The Day Microsoft Changed the Web

Robert McLaws — Thu, 06 Mar 2008 01:03:09 GMT

I've been saying this for a long time: The tech industry (and the financial markets associated with the tech industry) has continually underestimated Microsoft at its own peril. At MIX 08 today, Ray Ozzie emerged from his undisclosed location to show us all what the "Ray Ozzie Microsoft" will look like. And I try not to swear on the blog to often... but HOLY F---ING SH--! As Scott Guthrie so aptly put it, "Apps speak louder than words," and the LOOOONG keynote showed off more bits than you can shake an ICBM at. Here's what came out, courtesy of WaggEd:

Internet Explorer 8 Beta 1: Microsoft unveiled for the first time Internet Explorer 8, showcasing Internet Explorer’s commitment to developers. Internet Explorer 8 offers an unprecedented level of interoperability and tools, enabling developers to be more productive while delivering innovative experiences for end users on the Web. Internet Explorer 8 beta 1 for developers, released today, provides the most extensive support for Internet standards of any Microsoft browser and reduces the amount of time required to bring new experiences online.

Silverlight 2 Beta: Silverlight 2 supports managed code, includes the core of the Common Language Runtime and adds over two dozen user interface controls (such as Button, CheckBox, Date controls, GridView and Layout) that are designed to be used right out of the box, or to be tweaked with styles. If you need full control over the look and feel, the appearance of any control can be fully determined by templates and control behavior can be modified by hooking events, or ultimately by creating custom controls.

Expression Studio 2 Beta: Expression Studio 2 works seamlessly with Visual Studio to enable better designer and developer collaboration. New features include PHP support in Expression Web, and support for Silverlight in Expression Web, Expression Blend, Expression Media Encoder and Expression Design.

SQL Server Data Services: Microsoft announced a preview of SQL Server Data Services, a building block service designed for developers and businesses that need scalable, easily programmable and cost-effective data storage with robust database query capabilities. MIX08 attendees will be able to register for an invitation-only beta of Microsoft SQL Server Data Services.

Don't forget:

DeepZoom, powered by SeaDragon
NBCOlympics.com, HardRock.com, AstonMartin.com, and the new AOL Mail - all powered by Silverlight
XAML embedded in video enabling new ad metrics systems - By DoubleClick

When Microsoft decides to compete, they don't screw around. And now you can take the platform that a majority of Fortune 500 companies trust and use every day, and take that wealth of developer experience, and bring it to a cross-platform, cross-browser solution? How about .NET developers building rich applications on the Mac? How about using the same XAML code for an advertisement, and having it work on a web page, in a video clip, or in a WPF app?

So I say it again, count Microsoft out all you want, they have a history of out-competing almost everyone. Everyone thought OS/2 would beat out Windows. They were wrong. Everyone thought .NET would be a joke, cause Java "did everything right". They were wrong. Everyone thought Flash would take over the world. But Silverlight out-flashes Flash, and no one with any sense uses Flash for Enterprise apps.

Microsoft has a history of letting innovation happen, then finding the weaknesses in a competitor's product and attack it in force. Microsoft now dominates software development, and Guthrie & Co are doing it through good ol' fashioned innovation. Now they are putting their full weight into the arena that Macromedia/Adobe have dominated for so long.

if I were Adobe, I'd be real scared right about now.

Microsoft Makes Expression Tools Available to MSDN Subscribers

Robert McLaws — Tue, 03 Apr 2007 17:02:00 GMT

It seemed very irrational to me that Microsoft would take any steps to alienate their core developer audience. They usually cater to them like crazy. But in the case of the new Expression toolset, Microsoft's developer division did just that. On one hand, they constantly used the word "developer" in their marketing materials, and said that the product was the replacement for FrontPage.

But on the other hand, they didn't put it up on their developer network, told them to use "Sharepoint Designer" instead, and forced developers to pay $100 for the product. Sure, I mean $100 doesn't sound like much, but when you're paying $3,000 for an MSDN subscription, that seems like an unnecessary expense, right? Personally, I didn't get it at all, and I was quoted in the press several times to that effect.

Well, Microsoft finally caved today, and put Expression Web and Expression Blend (the HTML and XAML designers, respectively) on MSDN for subscribers. Personally, I think this is a much smarter decision, and not just because I get another free toy. If Microsoft is trying to gain marketshare against Adobe, they're going to need their core developer audience. And giving it away for free to a good portion of their developers will allow them to do that, and I believe will ultimately sell copies of their entire design set (which is half the cost of Adobe's BTW).

Expression has a long way to go before there is a 1:1 feature parity with the Adobe toolset. But this is an excellent start towards winning the hearts and minds of developers. Because whether Microsoft likes it or not, the unfortunate reality is that developers often have to be designers too. And now the "Jack of all tradesmen" can have the right tools for the job.

What is Expression Media?

Robert McLaws — Sun, 03 Dec 2006 08:29:10 GMT

Brandon LeBlanc caught wind of the new branding for the Expression products. But what is the "Expression Media" product? A couple weeks ago I discovered the answer. My sources tell me that Microsoft is getting ready to re-brand the photo management software from the iView acquisition as Expression Media and bundle it with the Expression suite. This would round out the Expression suite as a direct competitor to Adobe CreativeSuite. My sources also tell me that the full suite could retail for as little as half the price of CS2. But as I blogged about earlier, none of these products will be available via MSDN.

Apparently Web Developers Don't Do Web Design

Robert McLaws — Fri, 01 Dec 2006 22:41:00 GMT

Or so Microsoft says. When I read on ActiveWin that Microsoft wasn't going to be including Expression Web on MSDN, I was shocked. Microsoft is notoriously in-tune with its developers, and is usually very good to them. So I pinged my friend Brian Goldfarb, who is in charge of product marketing for DevDiv. He had this to say:

Until now, Microsoft did not have a tool aimed at the professional designer and now FrontPage has been superseded by both Expression Web and SharePoint Designer, we now have a comprehensive offering of Visual Studio 2005 (including Visual Web Developer) for developers, Expression Web for designers and SharePoint Designer aimed at IT Professionals who work with SharePoint sites. MSDN is a subscription model aimed at developers, therefore Microsoft has taken the decision not to include it’s designer tools in the Microsoft Expression range in that model. However because Microsoft includes Office products in MSDN, SharePoint Designer as part of the Office 2007 System is available through MSDN and it offers the same high fidelity design surface as Expression Web.

I'm sorry, Brian is a great guy, and I LOVE the DevDiv, but this is a load of crap. Because the assumption that web developers don't also have to be web designers is totally false, and SharePoint Designer is NOT as good as Expression Web. Otherwise there would be one product and not two.

The fact that there is a ton of horrible web design out there means that coders are writing web UI every day. Just because Microsoft doesn't have a tool out there doesn't mean that the industry hasn't had tools to do good UI work. And Microsoft would be stupid to think that just because they DO come out with a tool, that suddenly coders and corporations are going to see the errors of their ways, and start separating their duties.

Coders are still going to be doing UI, and VS2005 sucks at CSS. I guess Microsoft is tired of shelling out free stuff to developers.

Oh, well. Guess I'll be using the beta version until it expires.