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Microsoft Expression Studio Ultimate 4 Review and Opinions including Microsoft Expression Web 4, Expression Design 4, Microsoft Expression Blend 4

You can see our old review of Expression Studio 3 Here

See our conversion from FrontPage to Microsoft Expression Help page

Expression Web 3 was worthy of your use we just beginning to use Expression 4 we will report as we experience it

Our upgrade to Expression Studio 4 was free from Expression Studio 3 as Microsoft sites stated.  We uninstalled Blend 4 Release Candidate before we upgraded to Studio 4  but other than that, there were no installtion issues for us

Expression Web 4 does work and it is ready for prime time, at least for things that we need it to do. 

Microsoft discontinued Microsoft FrontPage in 2003 because it could not compete with web page editors that conformed to industry standards - - FrontPage used proprietary Microsoft technology that the industry did not adopt and rejected- Front Page was split into Microsoft SharePoint Designer (which requires the proprietary SharePoint server product) and Microsoft Expression Web which is an industry standard page / site editor

Microsoft Expression Studio was created to compete with Adobe's ever increasing web presents: Expression Studio includes: Microsoft Expression Web, Microsoft Expression Blend, Microsoft Expression Design, and Microsoft Expression Encoder. (An earlier version included an asset indexer for media, videos, photos and so on called Microsoft Expression Media - it has been discontinued

Things we like about Microsoft Expression Studio 4 / Expression Web 4

  • It supports industry standard technology
  • Upgrade from Expression Studio / Expression Web 3 to Expression Studio 4 / Expression Web 4 was free as offered on the Expression Web Sites
  • Microsoft appears to have a real competitor for the Adobe product line
  • It retains a subset of Microsoft FrontPage functionality but DOES NOT implement FrontPage components
  • The Expression 'Food Chain" seems to be growing and Microsoft seems to have a long term commitment to Silverlight technology.
  • Expression SketchFlow is Fabulous!  Set up an application or full web sites as prototype in a short time
  • Expression Studio 4 is proving to be a terrific improvemnt over Stude 3.
  • Our overall experience is proving positive. We are diving into Expresstion Studio 4 Ultimate as a real productity tool.
  • This is powerful stuff - we like the compertive power to price opportunity with Expression
  • We are singularly both designers and, less so, developers.  This product line blurs the lines between the two responsibilities - helping us much along the way (and the negative: also infuriating us when when pump into developer challenges that require coding skills)
  • The Sketchflow prototypinng component is so good that is makes Expression Studio 4 Ultimate a 'Must Try"!
  • Sketchflow productivity will cut design time (read that as $$) dramaticallyl for large sites / applicatons
  • More as we experience it

Things we DO NOT like about Microsoft Expression Studio 4 / Expression Web / Expression Blend 4 / the Microsoft Expression Offering

  • Although Expression Studio 4 has a less "rushed out the door' feel then version 3, it still feels rushted.
  • Windows phone support is 'not yet ready' and will be issued in a Service Pack, another indication that the Expression 4 was rushed.
  • Expression Web 4 did not tranferr our "publishing settings" or our "Manage Site List" from Expression Web 3 - an annoying oversite - may seem like a small thing but we have over 50 productions sites and it took over a couple of hours to look up the logons, passwords, etc
  • Expression Web 4 crashed as we were editing this site in it for the first time - in fairness, after a couple of weeks of use, we are finding these crashes infrequent
  • Where are the templates and wizards?
  • There still seems to be no conversion path from SketchFlow to production site application

Summary:

Expression Web 4  seems to fill our needs and we are learning to trust it. 

Expression Blend 4 has great potential, we will report as we experience it

 

Microsoft Expression Web 4 and Expression Blend 4

Highlights:

- Expression Web does the job for us .

  Expression Blend is a most compelling opportunity to move from Adobe.

- Transition from Front Page to Expression Web and Expression Studio is an encumbered  task

- Get excited about Expression Blend;s potential

- Sketch Flow is a terrific prototyping component