>>>You can do the job with VS2008.. you just can't do it very efficiently.
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>>Keeping in mind the problem that started this thread, and your comment about Expression Blend, your sentence should maybe be reworded to say:
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>>You can to the job with VS2008.. you just can't do it properly.
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>Again probably pre-empting Craig: No, it can't be re-word that way - it's just not true!
>ExpressionBlend generates XAML. There's nothing to prevent you writing the same XAML in VS2008

I suppose I should have said "... you just can't see it properly".

If the designer interprets the xaml differently than the runtime, and if ExpressionBlend interprets things the same way as the runtime, then the designer still has a problem. If I write the same code in VS2008 that ExpressionBlend would create, then I'm still left with the issue that the VS2008 designer may not interpret that xaml code the same way and it might look different than it would in ExpressionBlend and in the runtime - which is not optimal. It leaves the designer having to use trial and error in VS2008 to get the look he wants.

>
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>>His problem seems to have less to do with efficiency, and more with doing it wrong.
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>>>
>>>>Of course. That's why they sell us tools that are 'almost' good enough, and then offer additional stuff to fill the gaps at additional cost. If VS2008/2010 is supposed to be a tool for building apps including WPF, then it ought to do the job properly.