I really think this is a case of expectations and intent. The super preview is useful, but not for you based on your intentions.

The tool was never intended (for this release maybe) to be interactive. But I do see the value of seeing the visual difference between the GUI's. But yes, it would be super cool if you could interact with both versions.

Again, comes down to you (and many others) thought the tool did X but it was only meant to do Y. Sadly this means that many people will feel the product is a failure (and rightfully so based on expectations).

@Derik,

I think it's quite amusing when someone takes something that is clearly obvious, and clearly evident and attempts to turn it into a "You just want that to do what you want" selfish twist instead of what the truth really is.  That the tool is useless period to ANYONE truly testing in a real business environment cross-browser and who may need to test static AND non-static pages..interact with their site inside and out!  Do we only test outer static pages?  No.  That's not reality in business.

Then what IS the intent of this tool if you can only see static pages?

It looks very clear to me that they are saying this is the end all save all cross-browser tester savior tool:

http://expression.microsoft.com/en-us/dd565874.aspx

"When we watched web developers work, we found they always start with a single “baseline browser” as they initially design their pages. Once the page is working correctly in this browser, they begin tweaking the page to work in other browsers. So, in SuperPreview, you can load up any number of different browsers, but we’ve set it up so that you define a baseline browser. When you work in SuperPreview, you’re typically comparing a browser against this baseline rendering."

Hmm, did you "watch REAL developers in REAL business environments (big, med, small..they all auth into 99% of their applications) log into the app to see 90% of the pages like everyone typically does with any application?"

I mean you don't even have to watch developers, this is a simple given.  It's completely obvious without usabilty testing.

I guess Microsoft must have only been watching those "Developers" test their Legal, About, and other static pages at the time...that's unfortunate :).

I mean common, this is Microsoft.  And they clearly missed the boat.

It just seems useless not only to me but 100% of businesses out there. We all have to resort back to running and testing on several VMs. What's the point of this tool then.

So where are you seeing that it should only do Y instead of X?  X goes with Y in any business environment for testing period; so this tool doesn't let you view anything outside a static page and that's "my personal expectations" and I'm being ridiculous or overboard? so I and most others only want to test our non-auth pages such as Legal and About page?  Really?

So in my book it's an absolute HUGE failure.  I can't even use this tool, not even 1% of it because of a fundamental limitation...interaction.  A browser requires interaction!  Testing requires interaction!  It's almost an insult to the development community who support Microsoft when they put out tools like this claiming that it's actually useful in a business environment and it isn't!

So Microsoft should stop going to market and pitching things when tools aren't ready or the  tools can't do what they claim well by snidely marketing them skipping the parts that really make a difference to end users.

You're kidding right? This tool is not interactive? I was download it. Stunned.

If you want a similar tool which is available now take a look at BrowserSeal. It supports Firefox, Safari, IE6, IE7 and IE8.

Free trial version can be downloaded from http://www.browserseal.com