Web Platform Installer 2.0 Beta & Windows Web Application Gallery

  • Article

A couple of days back at MIX 09 Microsoft announced the availability of Web Platform Installer 2.0 Beta and Windows Web Application Gallery.

The Web Platform Installer (WebPI) is a simplified download/install experience for all of Microsoft’s free web products. It includes everything that a developer needs to get up and running to build your web solutions – from servers, tools, and technologies, including the most recently updated products. One does not have to go to 10 different websites to get the products – with the WebPI, one can do this all through one integrated experience. Additionally, the WebPI installs the community version of PHP so that one can have easy integration with popular web applications.

The Web Platform Installer Includes:

  • Internet Information Services (IIS) 5.1 on Windows XP SP3
  • IIS 6.0 on Windows Server 2003 SP2
  • IIS 7.0 on Windows Vista SP1 and Windows Server 2008
  • SQL Server 2008 Express,
  • .NET Framework 3.5 SP1
  • Visual Web Developer 2008 Express Edition
  • IIS Extensions including:
    • IIS 7 Media Services 3.0
    • IIS7 Administration Pack
    • Database Manager for IIS7
    • WebDav 7.5
    • FTP 7.5
    • FastCGI for PHP support on IIS6
    • URL Rewriter
    • IIS 7 Application Routing
    • Web Deployment Tool for IIS
  • ASP.NET and features such as ASP.NET MVC
  • Silverlight Tools for Visual Studio
  • The Community Version of PHP v5.2.9

The Windows Web Application Gallery is a community hub of the most popular Open Source and community Web applications that run on Windows. It provides a simple streamlined way for users to explore, discover, and install ASP.NET, PHP, and other types of Web applications and solutions on the Windows Platform. It also provides a simple way for developers to offer their applications to the millions of users worldwide.

To add an app to the Web Application Gallery a developer needs to add a couple of manifest files to the root of your existing ZIP package using the Application Packaging Guide, test to make sure that the apps work on the platforms supported by Web Platform Installer, and follow the other Web Application Gallery Principles.

The Web App Gallery is open to ASP.NET and PHP applications that follow our Web Application Gallery Principles and best practices for hosting ASP.NET and PHP applications on IIS.

Get the Microsoft Web Platform