Microsoft's latest desktop OS is really the hub of an all-out assault to recapture the hearts and minds - and wallets - of everyone that needs to manage lots of media. Windows 7 is the foundation upon which Microsoft is betting its multimedia farm and Expression Studio 3 is the toolkit they're hoping pros will embrace for media management and distribution.

What's that Expression?

Expression Studio is a suite of tools, designed for pros, that support the creation and distribution of rich media to browsers, desktop applications and Microsoft's Silverlight. When we spoke to Microsoft Product evangelist Michael Kordahi he began by asking us what we thought Silverlight was. We answered with "what Microsoft reckons will kill Flash". The response we received was a little surprising.

Kordahi described Microsoft as a "platform company" that was engaging with the "front-end of the web" or the "last leg" of the user experience. A look at Windows 7 and the most recent incarnation of Microsoft Office show us that while some new features have been added, there's been a focus on refining the user interface. Silverlight 3 is a big part of that. Applications that run in Silverlight 3 can run as desktop apps, completely independently of a browser.

Expression Studio 3 is a source-agnostic asset management tool. It doesn't care if you use Vegas, Premiere, Final Cut or some other creation tool. It's solely focussed on managing assets and distributing them. It's comprised of four components.

Blend 3 with SketchFlow was developed to enhance the designer-developer workflow. Think of it as a high-powered prototyping tool for software developers. When creating a web application that uses your media in some way, SketchFlow makes it easy to design the user experience without getting bogged down in technical detail.

Expression Web is Microsoft's replacement for the venerable FrontPage application that was a part of Office. It supports a slew of standards and lets you preview sites you've created in multiple browsers very easily. We really liked the ability to preview a site in two browsers and then overlay the two windows so that we could see the differences. For those who design websites to show off their content this is a great benefit.

Design is described as a "companion to Blend" as it's a comprehensive illustration tool. It lets you use existing artwork or create new content so that you can create a compelling interface for your website. Again, the focus is on using the assets you've already created but makes it easy to present them at their best.

The final instrument in this software quartet is Encoder. There's no prize for guessing what it does. When Encoder differs from other online video distribution is that, when combined with Silverlight in a web browser, it delivers a very smart feature.

No More Buffering

There's little that's more frustrating than having to wait for a piece of video to buffer before it'll start playing. Then if your web connection is a little flaky the movie becomes jerky or just stops playing. Video encoded with Encoder that is played back through Silverlight 3 dynamically changes the playback bit-rate.

Here's what happens. When you start playing a movie back through Silverlight, the movies starts playing almost instantly as the first frames are delivered to you at a low bit-rate. As the quality of your connection improves or falls away the playback bit-rate moves up and down. While the playback quality might vary, there's no interruption to playback. These smarts also take into account the computer's capability so that slower machines display the best possible quality.

This also does away with the need for another source of confusion. Viewers no longer need to be asked about the quality of their Internet connection. Many websites ask visitors if they have a fast, medium or slow connection. Video encoded with Encoder and played with Silverlight 3 answers the question automatically.

While the Expression Studio is a Windows only application, the Silverlight plug-in is multi-platform. Silverlight 3 is supported on Windows and Mac. Linux support comes from the open source community through the Mono group which has developed Moonlight. While this isn't an official Microsoft application, Mono is supported by the folk from Redmond through the provision of code and other useful information.

Let's Make a Movie

So, what' all this look like in practice? We decided to put some of this to the test by using the latest version of Windows Live Movie Maker. This used to be called Windows Movie Maker but it's been given a new name and all new look. Following the same path as Apple's iMovie, the familiar timeline is gone, replaced with a simplified editing interface that's targeting the online video crowd.

Scrubbing through footage is a snap. Simply drag the mouse over an imported clip and you'll be able to locate that special segment. There are plenty of transitions and title styles and the AutoMovie feature will automatically add transitions and apply the Ken Burns Effect to photos that are interspersed with video. While this isn't a pro feature, it's handy for quickly sharing footage while on holidays before getting home and doing a proper edit.

The one thing that really surprised us about Windows Live Movie Maker was that it doesn't need a super-powered system. While more CPU and RAM would be handy, we were able to put together a short movie combining a soundtrack, video and photos on a Kogan Agora netbook.

Once we'd finished creating our project, exporting it to YouTube or burning it to a DVD was very straightforward as the Movie Maker toolbar provides quick access to a variety of output options including everything from low-res mobile phones to full HD. The video can then be sent to just about anywhere with the ability to preview it within a browser prior to publication.

For output that's going to the web, there are a stack of different templates so that your video gets a pretty set of control buttons for playing, pausing, skipping and all the usual video player features you'd expect.

Windows 7

Considering an operating system change fills some with excitement and others with dread. For what it's worth, we've encountered very few issues with Windows 7, but all of the testing we've done has been with very recent software.

If you're using Windows XP then the jump to Windows 7 will be significant. There's no easy upgrade path - Vista users can install Windows 7 over the top of their current set up so that all apps and settings are retained. For XP users, you'll need to back your system up (remember to check the backup) and wipe your drive before installing Windows 7. However, there's no guarantee that all your programs will work. We'd strongly recommend some through research before diving into an upgrade.

Our approach has been to make a list of every application we use and consult the developer's website for advice on compatibility. Then, do a thorough Google or Bing to find out what other users have encountered. In particular, check on the third-party plug-ins you use. We've seen applications fall over because a plug-in hasn't been updated.

As far as hardware goes, we've installed Windows 7 on everything from a very entry level netbook through to highly specced Core2Duo systems and even a couple of Macs using both Boot Camp and virtualisation software. Providing it gets a decent serve of RAM it seems to run on a very wide variety of systems.

If you're still running Windows XP then we'd suggest making the move to Windows 7 as part of an investment in a new system. That way you can run your old and new systems side by side and migrate your apps and data progressively as you verify that everything works.

By Anthony Caruana

With a diverse educational background of biological science, education, information systems and theology, Anthony Caruana drifts between being the "most technically literate end user and least technically focussed IT expert". For Anthony, the technology is all about how we can get the most from it rather than entering into pissing contest about the fastest processor, biggest hard disk or most RAM.

With three young kids, the video and photography bug has bitten hard. Anthony shoots, edits and publishes several videos each year of various school productions as well as the occasional instructional video. Most of this work is done on a couple of Macs running in his office as well as MacBook Pro that is almost always in a bag hanging off Anthony's shoulder.

As well writing for auscam and a number of other publications and newspapers, Anthony works full time as a project manager in the energy industry, studies part time, delivers corporate presentations and is addicted to chocolate. His personal blog, that isn't updated nearly as often as it should be is at www.pocketmojo.net