I completely agree with you and am in the same boat as you. I pay a lot of
money for an MSDN, do plan on using Expression tools, and was very surprised
to hear they weren't planned to be part of the MSDN. I need to test on them
as well.
I am just relaying what I had heard. Maybe with enough pressure from
developers they will change their minds on this. There are postings all
over the internet from devs who are frustrated on this.
With some more searching in forums, I found this info from an MS employee's
posting which supposedly is an official FAQ on the subject:
--
What replaces FrontPage in MSDN subscriptions?
Sharepoint Designer replaces FrontPage in MSDN subscriptions. Sharepoint
Designer provides much of the same functionality as Expression Web, and it
includes features for modifying and creating Sharepoint sites as well. As a
result of the transition, MSDN subscribers will get Microsoft's latest web
development product with a richer feature set than FrontPage.
Why not Expression Web?
MSDN is focused at delivering the tools and technologies developers and IT
Pros need. With this in mind, Visual Studio and Sharepoint Designer
products are a better fit for this audience and provide a broader array of
technology, including Sharepoint site customization which is a common task
for MSDN users. On the other hand, Expression Web, which is solely focused
at building standards based Web sites it more acutely targeted at Web
designers.
What can MSDN subscribers do to get access to Expression Web?
Current MSDN subscribers qualify for the upgrade to Expression Web by virtue
of ownership of FrontPage through previous MSDN benefits, so they would
qualify for the $99 upgrade.
Will Expression Blend be included in MSDN subscriptions?
We will announce plans for Expression Blend at Mix '07 on April 30, 2007.
--
So I guess we find out in April what the final decision will be. If they
choose to not include the Expression tools I really hope that they at least
provide upgrade pricing for MSDN subscribers.
--
Bill Henning
Actipro Software
WPF Wizard Control -
http://www.actiprosoftware.com/Produ...d/Default.aspx
"Horst Klein" <horst.klein@vitodata.ch> wrote in message
news:%23SZ1paoRHHA.3592@TK2MSFTNGP06.phx.gbl...
> In real life Developers Use Blend. At least today.
> Me for example, I need blend to test my WFP custom controls.
> I use blend to see how they works in a designtool!
> If blend or parts of it will be inside the new Visual Studio its ok.
> Developers also need a tool to design GUIS ;-)
>
> Best regards
> Horst
>