Microsoft is targeting developers building Model View Controller (MVC) applications with a new release designed as an alternative for ASP.NET Web Forms. Although ASP.NET MVC is still in Beta stage, the Redmond company is providing a “go live” license allowing the deployment of solutions built with the tool to be deployed into production environments. Scott Guthrie, Corporate Vice President, .NET Developer Division, informed that the “go live” license is meant to specify the rights developers have when it comes down to implementing ASP.NET MVC built products.

“The beta release is getting close to V1 feature complete, although there are still a few more features that will be added before the final 'V1' release (including several VS tooling enhancements). The team decided to call this release a 'beta', though, because the quality and testing of it is higher than the previous previews (a lot of bug fixes and performance tuning work went into it), and they feel that the core features that are in it are now 'baked enoug' that there won't be major changes from this release to the final product,” Guthrie said.

Essentially, ASP.NET MVC Beta will add the MVC framework to the ASP.NET 3.5 runtime. Guthrie explained that ASP.NET MVC Beta is designed to integrate seamlessly with both .NET Framework 3.5 and .NET Framework 3.5 Service Pack 1 (SP1). At the same time, it comes with support for Visual Studio 2008, enabling developers to leverage intuitive URLs, Test-Driven Development, and fine-grained control over HTML and JavaScript, according to Microsoft.

“Today's beta release is a step closer to the final ASP.NET MVC 1.0 product. While not 100% feature complete, we think the major subsystems are all getting really close to being done, and that the quality level is now pretty good,” Guthrie added. 'If you don't like the MVC model or don't find it natural to your style of development, you definitely don't have to use it. It is a totally optional offering - and does not replace the existing WebForms model. Both WebForms and MVC will be fully supported and enhanced going forward (ASP.NET WebForms in .NET 4.0 will add richer URL routing features, better HTML css markup support, complete control over the ClientId property, more AJAX features."

ASP.NET MVC Beta is available for download here.

.NET Framework 3.5 Service Pack 1 (SP1) is available for download here.