LOS ANGELES—Microsoft Corp. on Thursday took another poke at graphics powerhouse Adobe Systems Inc. At its developer confab here, the Windows company announced that its latest front-end tools will let programmers and content producers create applications and other rich-media content that can run on operating systems other than Windows Vista.

The company demonstrated Windows Presentation Foundation Everywhere (WPF/E), a subset of its Windows Presentation Foundation (WPF), previously known as Avalon. WPF/E provides tools that developers can use to build applications using Microsoft's XAML page layout language.

According to Microsoft, WPF provides a common runtime engine for this XAML content, including graphics, video, audio, forms and documents, as well as support for browsers. The architecture comprises two parts: the engine that presents the rich content and experience, and a programming framework for developers.

It was previously assumed that WPF would only be able to build applications and content for Windows Vista. However, since WPF relies significantly on the cross-platform Javascript scripting language, it will be able to provide interaction across supported devices and platforms, the company said.

Microsoft said WPF/E will support Apple Computer Inc.'s Mac OS X, as well as older versions of Windows and Microsoft Smartphones.

This move places Microsoft in more direct competition with established multi-modal presentation technologies, analysts said.

"While it makes sense that Microsoft should offer something like Windows Presentation Foundation or extend it to other devices, I see potentially huge implications for Macromedia Flash," JupiterResearch analyst Joe Wilcox observed.

Microsoft's Sparkle Vs. Macromedia's Flash. Click here to read more.

Microsoft Senior Vice President Jim Allchin presented the technology on Tuesday during his keynote address here at the Microsoft Professional Developer's Conference. He demonstrated a version of WPF running in Apple's Safari browser on a Mac. He then ran his presentation in Windows' Internet Explorer 7, followed by a mobile phone.

While WPF/E is robust, it does not currently have support for 3D, hardware accelerators and some of the high-end features power developers may want in Windows Vista. However, Allchin maintained that Microsoft was "light-years ahead of anyone else in this space."

Microsoft Demos Design Tool Suite. Click here to read more.

Allchin was presumably pointing towards Macromedia's Flash format and the open SVG (Scalable Vector Graphics) format adopted by the W3C. For example, WPF/E and Flash 8 share similar capabilities, such as a development environment that can support multiple platforms.

Macromedia declined the opportunity to comment for this article.

The Microsoft executive also presented WPF/E running within an AJAX application written with Microsoft's new ASP.NET 2.0 "Atlas" product. However, Allchin offered no time estimates for how long it took to build the presented solution.

Members of the Flash development community said they were skeptical about WPF/E's ability to compete with Flash.

"The WPF/E initiative is very similar to the threat posed by SVG," said Theodore Patrick, founder and CEO of Ifbin Networks Corp. and a frequent Flash evangelist.

"SVG had WC3 standards support and Adobe's financial backing, but failed to compete with Flash," Patrick said. "The Macromedia Flash Player is widely deployed, backwards compatible, cross-platform, cross-device, and is available today."

"In the end, Flash will continue to be the gold standard for interactive development because it works," Patrick predicted.

Editor's Note: Mary Jo Foley, Microsoft Watch, provided additional reporting for this story.

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