Microsoft Vs. Apple (again):  The New Battleground

Recently, Apple released a new product called “iWeb”:http://www.apple.com/ilife/iweb/.  Which appears to be a brilliant and clean way of getting consumers to publish their life online through the use of a simple application and a .Mac account.  However, it seems odd that a company like Apple, with the gorgeous attention to detail and an always top-notch user interface, would somehow let the tool “generate”:http://whatdoiknow.org/archives/002582.shtml “bad”:http://businesslogs.com/technology/iwebgenerated_source_code_is_awful.php “markup”:http://www.point-studios.com/archives/2006/01/iweb_generated.htm.

However, there’s something new on the horizon that just might give it a run for the money.  A product from a certain company that I thought I could never, ever get excited about.
Microsoft has released information about the new “Expression Web Designer tools”:http://www.microsoft.com/products/expression/en/web_designer/demos.mspx?v=wd_standards.  I can’t yet tell if the target audience is the same as Apple’s on this one - but there might be some level of overlap, even if just a little bit.

So, take a few moments and watch the videos on the above link.  Look at what Microsoft is trying to sell…  using catch-phrases like “built-in accessibility reporting” and “maintaining strict adherence to web standards”, it might be easy to get the impression that Microsoft just might be doing something right with this one.  Could it be possible?  Has Microsoft been really listening to the web development community?

Granted, I’ve yet to lay my hands on the interface, but from the presentation material, it certainly seems easy enough to use.  Maybe not for Mom and Dad, but I’m certainly interested in hearing them out.  Give them a chance and see what the tool has to offer for real users, amateur, hobbyist, or pro.

The real reason I bring this up, is because it’s terribly easy for people to get wrapped up in OS politics.  I was a Mac user since the beginning.  Only recently have I started using Windows-based hardware alongside my Mac.  Is my life any worse off?  Not hardly.  I research and use the tools that are always in the best interest of my needs, and my client.

I think that the Microsoft tool, when we get a better look at it, might be more appropriately compared to something akin to Adobe Dreamweaver (cough, spit, venom, I hate typing that).  But Dreamweaver is primarily targeted at professional users only.

Perhaps MS Expression will end up being the death of FrontPage…?  Good Lord, we can only hope for the day.