Microsoft Expression Sparkle and the Windows Presentation Foundation together are seen as a Macromedia Flash alternative and Adobe is taking note of this Microsoft threat.

But Jim Rapoza of Publish.com argues that Talk of Flash's Demise Is Premature. He jots down 3 simple but solid reasons:

1. Adobe Flash runs on everything, from Linux to Mac OS X to Windows to handhelds. Sparkle won't even run on Windows 2000. Sparkle-based GUIs will work only on Windows Vista or Windows XP Service Pack 2 systems with WinFX components and a Windows Presentation Foundation-compatible video card.

2. Sparkle proponents list all the great things it will do that Flash can't. But they are comparing a future product against a currently shipping product. Who knows what Flash will be capable of in a year?

3. Flash has become pretty experienced at handling so-called killers. Over the years, it has faced Java, ActiveX and DHTML, as well as alternative Rich Internet Application technologies such as Curl and Captain Cold.