Microsoft Halting Work on "Photoshop Killer"?

[news=http://neowin.net/images/news/logos/ms_display.gif]According to ZDNet, Microsoft is halting production work on software that had been described as a serious contender to Adobe Photoshop. Previously code named Acrylic, the software was released as a development preview last year, and is currently available for download from Microsoft (see link below).

Called Expression Graphic Designer, the freeze on development is due to a number of reasons. Notably, Vista development. The company plans to release the next version of Windows later this year, and has been forced to focus resources towards that end. A Microsoft representative told ZDNet that it was also caused by the interlinked nature of the product.

Expression Graphic Designer is part of a package designed to help software developers with producing programs with XAML, Microsoft's new UI language. "So if the other two tools haven't been released, there's no great reason to have this released yet. It absolutely exists to support both Web Designer and Interactive Designer", said Wayne Smith.

Smith also told ZDNet that the other two programs, Web Designer and Interactive Designer would probably be released in late 2006. Smith didn't indicate a time frame as to when Graphic Designer would be released.

:source: Source: http://neowin.net/
:view: Homepage: http://www.microsoft.com/products/ex...n/default.mspx
:down: Download Link: http://www.microsoft.com/products/ex...n/default.mspx[/news]

half a year ago i was bored and did some surveys to actually see if you could get money out of it - one of the surveys was about the graphic design for the packaging for Ms Grfx editing tool - it looked like everything else they do.

MS should stay out of the graphics part and focus on their two strongest things. MS Office and Windows.

Nothing else.

Great story, but since Adobe and Macromedia's merger I think the next version of Photoshop is going to kill this new program. I am not a Microsoft basher in any way, but in terms of this new program I think it is going to be a great alternative. However, it is going against the reigning champion and will need to prove alot just to become a contender.

This isn't MS' first foray into graphics. A similar promise was made a few years ago and failed to pan out into anything resembling a useful tool. Unless, of course, Bill and company buy Adobe, that'll be a true PS killer.