Developer/Designer - Microsoft Draws the Line with the Expression Studio

Microsoft will make public its plans for the Expression products at MIX07 on April 30, 2007. Seth Adams, Program Manager, MSDN Subscriptions announced this back in February. But in the meantime, Microsoft has reconsidered its position in relation to the availability of Expression within MSDN Subscriptions. In fact, both Expression Web and Expression Blend have been made available on Microsoft Developer Network (MSDN).

Following customer feedback: "I am pleased to say that we will be making Expression Web available to all MSDN Premium subscribers. We will also make Expression Blend available to MSDN Premium subscribers shortly after the Expression Studio release later in Q2 2007. Expression Blend and Expression Web are intended to help creative professionals collaborate with developers to create rich user experiences for the Web, Windows Vista applications and beyond, which means we need to make sure both tools are readily available to our developer community," revealed S. "Soma" Somasegar, corporate vice president of the Developer Division at Microsoft.

Microsoft additionally informed that the decision regards all MSDN Premium subscribers. Customers with premium subscriptions to Visual Studio Team Suite will be able to access the complete Expression Studio.

Still, Microsoft is differentiating between developers and designers. And the company's point of view will impact directly the availability of Expression Design and Expression Media. While Microsoft is prepared to offer developers access to the tools they need, it is not the same for designers.

"Expression Blend and Expression Web are both designed to help creative professionals and developers work together to create rich user experiences for the Web, Windows Vista applications and beyond. As Expression Design and Expression Media are not directly intended for application development, we feel they fall outside the current scope of MSDN Subscriptions. We will be watching usage and collecting feedback of these expression products to help make further decisions in the future," Somasegar explained.