Microsoft Expression Media 2 in Software

Microsoft Expression Studio is designed to provide end users with the richest computing experience possible so advanced media handling should be key. Unfortunately this obvious requirement seemed to pass Microsoft by so that, rather than developing its own visual file manager, it was forced to buy in an existing third-party solution at the last moment. Worse the program it picked, iView MediaPro, was ugly, awkward and well past its sell-by date.

On the positive side Microsoft is clearly well placed to turn the renamed Expression Media around - so what has it managed to achieve over the last year? The good news is that the most embarrassing holes in Media's file support have been filled so that you can now actually see basic thumbnail previews of the core Expression Designer and Expression Encoder formats. You should also be able to see thumbnails of the all-important XAML format though this still didn't work on our test set-up.

Microsoft also spotted that it didn't exactly look good that its own-brand media manager required the installation of Apple QuickTime so you can now rely on Windows Imaging Component instead. The embarrassment continues however as to restore full functionality, including core commands such as image rotate and movie conversion, you still need to install QuickTime!

More importantly next-to-nothing has been done about Media's antiquated working approach and feature set. While you can now use Autoplay to automatically catalog files from portable storage devices, there's still no option to explore files on the fly, instead you have to drag folders and files into the workspace. Otherwise just about the only new power on offer is the less-than-revolutionary ability to create hierarchical lists of keywords - which bizarrely then run alongside the existing flat system rather than replacing it.

The biggest disappointment of all is that Expression Media's interface has been left unchanged. In the main Thumbnail view this means that basic features such as smooth thumbnail scaling and live video previews are still missing. Even worse, to view the file itself you need to switch to the separate Media tab, while to sort files you need to switch to the extraordinarily ugly, text-based List view.

Media file handling demands an efficient, attractive visual environment and this should be the perfect arena for Microsoft to show just what modern WPF-based application development can do. Sadly, rather than a modern showcase, Expression Media 2 remains an antiquated embarrassment.

Author: Tom Arah