Microsoft has recently released Expression Media 1.0 for Windows and Mac, the first version of the successor to iView MediaPro since the software giant purchased iView Multimedia in 2006.

 

At first glance, there appear to be few if any substantive changes in the Mac version, relative to MediaPro 3.1.3, while the Windows version gains the ability to use Expression Media Encoder to create multimedia content for display in Microsoft's new Silverlight browser plug-in.

 

Microsoft Expression Media 1.0 is US$299; a 60-day trial version is available (registration required). A downloadable upgrade from MediaPro 3.x is planned, and is to be free until August 1, 2007, after which the upgrade cost will be US$99. Details on how to upgrade a MediaPro license to an Expression Media license don't appear to be online yet.

 

Thanks to Robert Edwards for bringing this to our attention.