Microsoft Expression Studio review

Expression Media is an updated and repackaged version of iView MediaPro, which Microsoft bought last year. Similar to Apple Aperture and Adobe Lightroom, this Digital Asset Management application helps you manage catalogs, or libraries, of work. Media can wrangle files in more than 100 formats, such as RAW files. It also steps you through publishing content as a photo gallery or movie. Unlike other Expression apps, Media works with Macs as well as PCs. During our tests of the beta 2 version, Media still hadn't adopted the look and feel common to the other three Expression applications. Still, we found Media easy to figure out from the get-go. Although Media offers fewer features than Lightroom, the beta was intuitive in our tests, with drag-and-drop features and self-explanatory bulk tagging.

Expression Design graphics software performs pixel and vector image editing, a lightweight mix of features offered by Adobe competitors Photoshop and Illustrator. For instance, with Design you can add Live Effects to an image without making a permanent change, similar to the new nondestructive Smart Layers in Photoshop CS3. We easily adjusted to the interface, which once again strongly resembles Adobe software.

We haven't yet tested Expression Blend, which uses XAML (Extensible Application Markup Language) coding to build interactive Windows apps with Internet tie-ins. For instance, you could use Blend to design a desktop widget integrating maps, videos, and animation from the Web.

Microsoft's attempts to win over designers and coders with Expression could be an uphill struggle, largely because most digital creatives already have their favorite tools picked out, such as those offered by the Adobe creative suites. Expression's substantial prices are unlikely to reel in bargain hunters who might otherwise check out Corel software; nor will these Windows-only tools convert happy Mac users. Still, Expression remains less expensive than most of the Adobe CS3 packages. Based upon our early look, the tools within Expression Studio appear well built and are likely to attract coders and designers loyal to the most recent Microsoft Windows operating systems.