Microsoft have played a bit of a blinder. I’ve always found it a nightmare to set up ASP.net applications on IIS. Even getting PHP up and running and playing nice on IIS can be an absolute nightmare at times. No more however. If you are running IIS 6 or 7 then it is well worth your while installing Microsoft’s Web Platform Installer.
At the moment I’m using version 2 which is in beta but it is fine for production use albeit with one very unusual and weird quirk. If you try to install a package it will throw a wobbly if you are not in the Pacific, US and Canada time zone. So change the time zone before installing a web app and don’t forget to change it back once you are finished.
Rather than wax on about it myself I will just rehash Microsoft’s blurb:
The Microsoft Web Platform Installer 2.0 (Web PI) is a free tool that makes it simple to download, install and keep up-to-date with the latest components of the Microsoft Web Platform, including Internet Information Services (IIS), SQL Server Express, .NET Framework and Visual Web Developer. In addition, install popular open source ASP.NET and PHP web apps with the Web PI.
If you have to administer or are setting up an IIS server then it’s an essential install!
Most people will buy a PC or a laptop based on a budget. At this present moment in time given the economy crashing down around us that is more true than ever. Typically the version of operating system pre-installed on a new machine rarely if ever figures in the purchasing decision. The end result is that most people will end up buying a laptop of the shelf of their local Tesco that is running Windows Vista Home Basic which as you may or may not know is a castrated version of Vista.
However with the upcoming Windows 7 Microsoft have listened to the criticism from customers that Vista was a stinking pile of excrement but they didn’t listen to the complaints about the many confusing versions available because they have just announced that Windows 7 will be shipping in six different editions.
As with Vista, the Ultimate edition will be the one everyone will want but few will get. You see after someone pays €500+ for a laptop they aren’t likely to shell out the same amount again to update their operating system to something vaguely functional.
If you include 32bit and 64bit versions then there becomes a total of 22 versions including those “Euro Specials” that don’t have Media Player installed.
Why do they insist on thinking that they know what is best for us? Just make a Home and Professional edition a la XP and everyone should be happy. The irony is that at the moment the Windows 7 beta is getting fantastic reviews but that is because everyone using the beta is using the Ultimate edition.
They are going to get some shock when the beta expires!
