Robert Scoble and Don Dodge lay out reasons why the new Expression suite of products is going to give a boost to Windows and Web development.
First off, I agree with them that the Expression products aren’t Flash killers–at least in terms of what Flash has been. Now if Flash wants to take on the developer market even more, then well, I see plenty of potential overlap. There are big differences in the approaches though, which means that there will be more for developers to chose from. That’s a good thing.
Now in terms of the justification of the Expression suite and XAML and trying to improve the workflow between designers and developers, I understand the argument, but I’m not keen on it. Truth is, as a developer I want better tools so that I don’t have to go to a designer as much. Likewise, if I work with a designer I want them to be able to do more “development” work, if you will. I don’t simply want a more efficient process between the designer and developer, I want each to be able to do more. I think it’s great, for instance, if a designer can create a whole commercial app. No “developer” needed. Likewise, I think it would be great if a developer, without the aid of a “designer” could create a very professional and slick app. To me, it’s all about increasing the productivity of whoever is doing the work–and thereby reducing cost.
Yes, yes, improving the efficiencies between designers and developers will help get products out faster, potentially better, and less expensively. Photoshop does this in a way, for instance. A designer can give me a handful of images that represent a UI, all created in Photoshop which I can glue together in Visual Studio. It would be nice if Visual Studio could edit or manipulate these high res images, but it doesn’t. Does it have to? Not necessarily. There might be a better way. That’s where the Blend concept is trying to step in.
But again, to me, if you want something knock out amazing, it’s going to either enable the designer to be a “developer” or the developer to be a “designer” in such a way that costs are reduced and products get out faster–at least for a class of products/services. A suite of products that helps to institutionalize a suite of employees, well, quite frankly sounds like something that’s ripe to compete against. Just give me the right technology. The right tools. At the right cost.