We are pleased to present a release candidate of Microsoft® Expression Blend™. This release contains a brand new set of sample projects that you can access from the Welcome Screen on startup, or by clicking Welcome Screen on the Help menu, and then by clicking the Samples tab.
Your input is essential during our development cycle to help us make a better product. Please send your feedback to us via our discussion forum or our product feedback center as you encounter bugs or usability issues, or if you simply want to request a feature (click on the Report an Issue link on this site for instructions). Have fun designing, and we look forward to your continued feedback!
http://www.microsoft.com/products/expression/en/expression-blend/try.mspx
For new users
If you are new to Expression Blend and are building user experiences for Microsoft® .NET Framework 3.0 applications on the Microsoft® Windows® platform, this is a great place to start. The pre-release versions of the product are a great way to experiment and begin familiarizing yourself with the tool. We hope you will try the innovative features in Expression Blend, such as rich 2D and 3D graphics, animation, dynamic layout, data binding, style and template editing, and resource management.
We recommend that you explore the included sample projects and documentation. Additionally, some knowledge of .NET 3.0 programming may help you. For more information about the .NET Framework 3.0, see the .NET Framework 3.0 Development section of the Windows Software Development Kit. Please also refer to 3rd party books that are good resources for learning Windows Presentation Framework (WPF.)
In order to edit code, if you do not have Microsoft® Visual Studio® 2005 installed, you can get a free copy of a Visual Studio 2005 Express edition from the Visual Studio Express Web site (choose either the Visual Basic or C# edition).
Installation Instructions
Windows Vista™:
- Download and install Expression Blend.
- When prompted to enter a product key, just click the Continue button for a 30-day trial from the first installation of RC, or if you want to enable the 180-day license, please enter the product key as follows: J33H2-43BTF-JG47Y-KWWWT-43QJV. If you’ve already entered this product key for a previous installation of Expression Blend (Beta 1 or later), then you will not be prompted to enter it for this release..
- Download and install Visual Studio 2005 Express (Visual Basic or C#).
Windows XP SP2:
- Install .NET Framework 3.0 first before attempting to install Expression Blend.
- Download and install Expression Blend.
- When prompted to enter a product key, just click the Continue button for a 30-day trial from the first installation of RC, or if you want to enable the 180-day license, please enter the product key as follows: J33H2-43BTF-JG47Y-KWWWT-43QJV. If you’ve already entered this product key for a previous installation of Expression Blend (Beta 1 or later), then you will not be prompted to enter it for this release.
- Download and install Visual Studio 2005 Express (Visual Basic or C#).
Downloads
Please note that the information about the pre-released versions of Expression products is subject to change until they are available for purchase.
Resources
System Requirements >
Read Me >
Trial FAQ >
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