So we had the new Macromedia Studio 8 ship yesterday and then today at PDC the Expression family of tools was released. Now I may be biased (I work at Microsoft now and I worked at Macromedia for several years) but I’d say Designers are getting a lot of love this week.
Because as fun as all these new tools are, that’s not even the best thing I’ve seen this week for Graphic Designers, Interaction Designers, Usability experts, etc.

Yesterday, in the PDC keynote, I listened as Bill Gates told the 8,000+ developers, system architects, CTO’s and CIO’s to “Focus on the User Experience”. This theme was further echoed during the presentation of Windows Vista, Office 12, the Expression tools, etc. Seeing a pattern? Now, you might not personally care what Bill Gates and Microsoft say but most corporations and influential individuals in the industry do. They pay very close attention to what Microsoft is saying and doing.
For Microsoft to make User Experience a main theme of its Professional Developer Conference is actually a pretty significant gain for those of us who make our living trying to improve the experience of using software and devices. This is good for the corporate reputation and perceived need of all types of designers and usability experts.
There are also some important reasons why you should care specifically about Windows Presentation Foundation (Avalon) and the Expression tools which I’ll post later. I’ve got to run off to some sessions and designer focus groups…