Microsoft Web Platform: Good Content, Easy to Use

If you use MS tools to do web development, check out the Microsoft Web Platform. I had a friend of mine at Microsoft recommend it to me when I was setting up my dev environment, and after taking a look, I have to say I'm pretty impressed.

The Microsoft Web Platform installer takes the hassle out of setting up and configuring IIS. There's also an installer for setting up open-source web apps like Dotnetnuke, Wordpress, and Drupal. Steps are clear and easy to follow. I hate to spend time tinkering with web servers, so this is a nice deal for me.

Besides the installers, here are a couple of feeds drawing in some great content from various external design and development blogs. The site is nice & clean, and easy to navigate - I found a couple of interesting articles within a few minutes of browsing. Many Microsoft sites are loaded with fluff, so being able to find useful articles quickly was a nice surprise. All in all, I don't see a lot of marketese, just good content and tools. Kudos to Microsoft on this one.