by Microsoft is at it again, entering another sphere dominated mostly by one name— this time Adobe and Macromedia. It’s codename is Sparkle, though Microsoft denies any knowledge of it!
Sparkle will be targeted at developers of a variety of business, Web and online training/sales applications—all markets that make heavy use today of Macromedia’s Flash platform, sources said. Sources added that Sparkle also will be able to run on a variety of devices, as it will rely on a compact version of the WPF that is similar in packaging and positioning to the current .Net Compact Framework technology.
Microsoft is looking to push the Expression suite in lockstep with its Visual Studio developer tools suite to make designers key participants in the development process. So, for instance, in a scenario using the Visual Studio Team System (VSTS) tool set, designers can use the Expression tools to build user interfaces, graphics content and designs to be handed off to developers, requirements analysts, testers, architects and other roles supported by VSTS, sources said.
So, watch out– before you know it you will probably have another web technology from Microsoft!
