Microsoft Expression Studio is a discontinued suite of tools for designing and building Web and Windows client applications and rich digital media content. Overview Microsoft introduced Microsoft Expression on September 16, 2005, at Microsoft's Professional Developers Conference 2005 in Los Angeles. Microsoft Expression Encoder was introduced at NAB 2007. Microsoft Expression Studio was released to manufacturing (RTM) on April 30, 2007. The RTM news was announced at Microsoft's MIX 07 conference for web developers and designers. Microsoft Expression Studio 2 was released on May 1, 2008, which also included a graphical makeover for the suite to an inverse of the previous black-on-white theme. This release brings all products in the suite to version 2, and now also includes Visual Studio Standard 2008. Microsoft Expression Studio is also available to students as downloads via Microsoft's DreamSpark program. Microsoft Expression Studio 3 was released on July 22, 2009. This release brings all products in the suite to version 3, with significant improvements especially targeting Silverlight 3. Expression Media is no longer a part of package, while all other products have been significantly improved and enriched. On June 7, 2010, Expression Studio 4 was released. Expression Studio 4 is a free upgrade version for licensed Expression Studio 3 users, but only for retail copies. End of life On December 20, 2012, Microsoft announced that the Expression products would be discontinued, with Blend becoming a standalone tool with Visual Studio 2012 Update 2, Expression Studio 4 Ultimate and Expression Studio 4 Web Professional no longer available for sale but supported through their support lifecycle, Expression Design 4 and Expression Web 4 available as unsupported free editions, Expression Encoder 4 Pro available for purchase through 2013, and Expression Encoder 4 remains available for download at no charge. Editions As of version 4, there are two editions of Expression Studio available to general public: Web Professional and Ultimate Expression Studio Web Professional consists of: Expression Web, HTML editor and web design program Expression Design, vector graphics editor Expression Encoder Pro, video editing tool for authoring VC-1 and H.264/MPEG-4 AVC contents Expression Studio Ultimate consist of all previous components, as well as: Expression Blend, graphical user interface builder for XAML or HTML applications SuperPreview, complementary web design program for testing compatibility and performance SketchFlow, complementary user interface tool that facilitate workflow design Expression Encoder and SuperPreview are the only components that can be obtained individually. Expression Encoder