Microsoft Expression

[Margaret]

Good morning group.

I stumbled across an article at PCWorld.com
(http://www.pcworld.com/news/article/0,aid,122551,00.asp) about the upcoming
"Microsoft Expressions" designer tools. That, of course, lead me to
Microsoft's pages on it
(http://www.microsoft.com/products/expression/en/default.aspx).

Incredibly, I had started out reading reviews on Adobe Illustrator CS2 ...
ANY-WAY ...

Is anyone here familiar with Microsoft Expression? If so, would you say it's
a compliment to, and / or replacement for FrontPage? Do you see it being
Microsoft's answer to (as inferred in the PCWorld article), Microsoft's
answer to MM Flash, Dreamweaver, and Photoshop? Do you have any idea when it
will be available for purchase? Can you recommend further reviews /
information to read? Any other comments?

Thanks.

Margaret

 

[Stefan B Rusynko]

Read the FAQ on the MS Expression site




| Good morning group.
|
| I stumbled across an article at PCWorld.com
| (http://www.pcworld.com/news/article/0,aid,122551,00.asp) about the upcoming
| "Microsoft Expressions" designer tools. That, of course, lead me to
| Microsoft's pages on it
| (http://www.microsoft.com/products/expression/en/default.aspx).
|
| Incredibly, I had started out reading reviews on Adobe Illustrator CS2 ...
| ANY-WAY ...
|
| Is anyone here familiar with Microsoft Expression? If so, would you say it's
| a compliment to, and / or replacement for FrontPage? Do you see it being
| Microsoft's answer to (as inferred in the PCWorld article), Microsoft's
| answer to MM Flash, Dreamweaver, and Photoshop? Do you have any idea when it
| will be available for purchase? Can you recommend further reviews /
| information to read? Any other comments?
|
| Thanks.
|
| Margaret
|

 

[Margaret]

Thanks Stefan:

It never fails .... I ask a question, then find the FAQ pages ....

 

[Uncle Joe]

Well, Microsoft is again skipping down the yellow brick
road to see the Wizard about getting a graphics package
equivalent to Adobe Photoshop. How many products
have there been? I've lost count. Image Composer was
my favorite of these, even though the interface was not
intuitive. It had some cute tricks.

And I doubt that Macromedia executives are unloading
their stock in fear of Microsoft's intrusion into their
domain...especially since the Expressions FAQ pointedly
brushed aside any potential for future Mac sales.

Microsoft certainly has the resources to blow away
Adobe and Macromedia but its heart has never
been in the effort.

I'll keep my copies of Photoshop and Frontpage 2003.

 

[Rob Giordano \(Crash\)]

A few months ago I messed around with Expression, they had a free download
back then. I found it clunky, I'll stick with PS for now. But, I would like
to see Acrylic when it's released.


| Well, Microsoft is again skipping down the yellow brick
| road to see the Wizard about getting a graphics package
| equivalent to Adobe Photoshop. How many products
| have there been? I've lost count. Image Composer was
| my favorite of these, even though the interface was not
| intuitive. It had some cute tricks.
|
| And I doubt that Macromedia executives are unloading
| their stock in fear of Microsoft's intrusion into their
| domain...especially since the Expressions FAQ pointedly
| brushed aside any potential for future Mac sales.
|
| Microsoft certainly has the resources to blow away
| Adobe and Macromedia but its heart has never
| been in the effort.
|
| I'll keep my copies of Photoshop and Frontpage 2003.
|
|
| | > Good morning group.
| >
| > I stumbled across an article at PCWorld.com
| > (http://www.pcworld.com/news/article/0,aid,122551,00.asp) about the
| > upcoming
| > "Microsoft Expressions" designer tools. That, of course, lead me to
| > Microsoft's pages on it
| > (http://www.microsoft.com/products/expression/en/default.aspx).
| >
| > Incredibly, I had started out reading reviews on Adobe Illustrator
| > CS2 ...
| > ANY-WAY ...
| >
| > Is anyone here familiar with Microsoft Expression? If so, would you
| > say it's
| > a compliment to, and / or replacement for FrontPage? Do you see it
| > being
| > Microsoft's answer to (as inferred in the PCWorld article),
| > Microsoft's
| > answer to MM Flash, Dreamweaver, and Photoshop? Do you have any idea
| > when it
| > will be available for purchase? Can you recommend further reviews /
| > information to read? Any other comments?
| >
| > Thanks.
| >
| > Margaret
| >
|
|

 

[Jon Spivey]

Fair point - look what happened with Photodraw. A graphics program needs
credibility in the market place and I don't think an MS graphics product
will ever have that, however good it is.

 

[JIMCO Software]

Well, Microsoft is again skipping down the yellow brick
road to see the Wizard about getting a graphics package
equivalent to Adobe Photoshop. How many products
have there been? I've lost count. Image Composer was
my favorite of these, even though the interface was not
intuitive. It had some cute tricks.

I think you need to review the documentation again. Expression does many
things that no other product available can do.

--
Jim Cheshire
JIMCO Software
http://www.jimcosoftware.com

FrontPage add-ins for FrontPage 2000 - 2003

 

[Uncle Joe]

Jim,

As you suggested, I sat through the demos for the Expressions
products.
It appears that you're right in that the apps do more than I had read
in
the FAQs. I stand corrected.

Liked the web designer product most of all. If it truly simplifies
tasks now
achieved by a variety of JAVA, .ASP, and HTML workarounds,
more power to it. This would be the Expression product I'd buy first.
The demo was brief and didn't really address databases, but I'd
hope they'd include easy-to-manage database functions which would
generate clean, efficient, and fast code for Access, SQL, and MySQL.

The graphics designer is a big improvement over previous MS graphics
offerings. I liked the 3D and vector painting capabilities a lot. Can
do
everything else with my beloved Photoshop. It appears that Microsoft
has put my effort into graphics designer. Perhaps this one will be a
keeper.

Interactive designer didn't cause any excitement on my part. Just
don't
see its applicability to my world at this time. It may be terrific
but...

I also recoil at the prospect of buying three more apps. I have well
over $1100 invested in Photoshop (including all the upgrades)
and am not about to walk from that. MS should offer each product
at $99 for competitive upgrades--including FrontPage 2003 users.

 

[Kevin Spencer]

I think you'll be seeing quite a bit more in the area of graphics from
Microsoft in the very near future (and beyond). You may also want to read up
on Microsoft's "Windows Presentation Foundation" (formerly code-named
"Avalon").

http://msdn.microsoft.com/windowsvista/building/presentation/

Once again, Microsoft is demonstrating that it is truly "coming into its
own" with the Vista presentation layer, a brilliantly-architected,
standards-oriented, extensible, and OS-level platform for both the Windows
OS GUI, and any type of graphics application. It is vector-based, which
means (most importantly) that scaling graphics involves no compromises or
loss of visual integrity or data. It supports, at the OS-level, both 2D and
3D graphics. It incorporates XML into the presentation layer (XAML, to be
precise - Extensible Application Markup Language). And a heck of a lot more.

I would look for most of it to become industry-wide standard (or at least
imitated ins some fashon, industry-wide) within a few short years. And I
would look for some awesome graphics tools coming out of Microsoft within a
few short years as well. I understand that they are already developing a 3D
graphics studio that will probably rival Maya and 3D Studio, the current
industry leaders.

Will Adobe keep up? No doubt. Will Microsoft catch up with Adobe? No doubt
(on my part). I believe this is what Microsoft has been holding back for.

--
HTH,

Kevin Spencer
Microsoft MVP
..Net Developer
I'd rather be a hammer than a nail.

 

[Rob Giordano \(Crash\)]

Hey Jim,

Expression is pretty cool, but I'm confused as to where it might fit in or
push out if you know what I mean.

I also watched a little movie on Sparkle on some developer's web (it may
have been a secret hidden ms group site)...how does that relate to
Expression/Acrylic?

R.

| Uncle Joe wrote:
| > Well, Microsoft is again skipping down the yellow brick
| > road to see the Wizard about getting a graphics package
| > equivalent to Adobe Photoshop. How many products
| > have there been? I've lost count. Image Composer was
| > my favorite of these, even though the interface was not
| > intuitive. It had some cute tricks.
| >
|
| I think you need to review the documentation again. Expression does many
| things that no other product available can do.
|
| --
| Jim Cheshire
| JIMCO Software
| http://www.jimcosoftware.com
|
| FrontPage add-ins for FrontPage 2000 - 2003
|
|
|
|

 

[JIMCO Software]

Hey Jim,

Expression is pretty cool, but I'm confused as to where it might fit
in or push out if you know what I mean.

I also watched a little movie on Sparkle on some developer's web (it
may have been a secret hidden ms group site)...how does that relate to
Expression/Acrylic?

Don't know for sure. All I know is what the site shows.

--
Jim Cheshire
JIMCO Software
http://www.jimcosoftware.com

FrontPage add-ins for FrontPage 2000 - 2003