Microsoft Unleashes Tool for Web Developers -- Visual Studio Magazine

Microsoft Unleashes Tool for Web Developers

Web App Installer from Redmond provides a single way for developers to gather ASP.NET- and PHP-based open source Web apps.

By Jeffrey Schwartz
11/01/2008

In its latest bid to keep Web developers in the fold, Microsoft has developed a tool designed to manage the setup, configuration and retrieval of different Web apps.

Microsoft last month released the first beta of what it calls Web App Installer, dubbed Web AI. The free tool is designed to provide a single way for Web developers to gather ASP.NET- and PHP-based open source Web apps. The initial beta consists of a suite of Web applications that include Drupal, DotNetNuke, Graffiti, Gallery, OS Commerce, Wordpress and PHPBB.

All in One
The tool for Web developers comes just two weeks after Microsoft launched Web Platform Installer (Web PI) software that provides one-stop installation and automatic updates of Microsoft's complete Web platform, including IIS7, Visual Web Developer 2008 Express Edition, SQL Server 2008 Express Edition and .NET Framework.

Web AI automates the downloading, installation and configuration of the various community .NET and PHP applications in a simplified process for Web developers, says Lauren Cooney, group product manager for Microsoft's Web Platform and Standards. The installer handles various details, such as checking systems for the needed prerequisites and configuring IIS7 to run those Web apps.

Integration Plans
Cooney says it's too early to say what the plans are beyond the initial beta release of Web AI, though she envisions more apps added-perhaps another half-dozen over the next six months. Microsoft is also looking at how it might be tied to other products.

"We're meeting with different product groups within the company and determining if they have software that's relevant for Web developers," she says. "For example, I met with the SharePoint team today -- which has a good product out there -- [to see if] we might be able to include it in this platform. The key here is that, one, it's relevant for Web, and two, it's free. We're not trying to up-sell anyone or anything like that."

Web AI requires Windows Vista or Windows Server 2008 and can only be used by those with administrative privileges. It also requires .NET Framework 2.0 or higher. The beta is available for download at Microsoft's Web site. The company has also launched a portal site for all of its Web efforts, available here.

About the Author

Jeffrey Schwartz is editor of Redmond magazine and also covers cloud computing for Virtualization Review's Cloud Report. In addition, he writes the Channeling the Cloud column for Redmond Channel Partner. Follow him on Twitter @JeffreySchwartz.

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