Most designers would never use Visual Studio, or even consider using it. Microsoft has a partial solution for designers who want to create Silverlight-based RIAs: Expression Blend. There's a free December preview of Expression Blend 2.0 available for the downloading. Why do I say it's a partial solution? Because at this point designers probably can't get everything they want from Silverlight by themselves. For m Why do I say it’s a partial solution? Because at this point designers probably can’t get everything they want from Silverlight by themselves. For many applications, the designer will have to collaborate with a programmer to get the project absolutely right. They may also have to use Visual Studio themselves, but only for a few simple, infrequent tasks. Software Development