At the start of October 2008 Microsoft made available for download the Beta build of Web Platform Installer, a tool designed to centralize all the components of the Microsoft Web Platform and to streamline the download tasks associated with them. At the end of the past week, the Web Platform Installer came out of Beta development stage, with the release Candidate now available for download.

Between the Beta and RC builds, Microsoft managed to cut out any references to Windows 7, referencing as supported operating systems only Windows Vista RTM, Windows Vista SP1, Windows XP, Windows Server 2003, Windows Server 2008. However, Web Platform Installer was tested on Windows 7 pre-Beta Build 6801, and it worked like a charm.

The “effort is a direct result of feedback we’ve received from customers regarding the need to significantly simplify the installation of key components needed to spin up new web properties. With the Web PI, customers can now use a simple tool to install Microsoft's entire Web Platform, including IIS7, Visual Web Developer 2008 Express Edition, SQL Server 2008 Express Edition and the .NET Framework. Or, the tool can be used to install more specific combinations of these technologies,” revealed Steven Martin, director, CSD Product Management Microsoft.

Martin emphasized the fact that Microsoft was coming to support customers running heterogeneous environments. In this context, the Web Platform Installer was among the company's efforts to deliver solutions, products and tools designed to build on interoperability in the context of mixed source infrastructures.

“This newest RC for the Web PI now enables installation of ASP.NET MVC, Visual Studio Tools for Silverlight, and offers compatibility with Windows Server 2003 and Windows XP for a more complete, enterprise-level experience. As well, with the Microsoft Web Application Installer (WebAI), we are including several .NET and Open Source applications for development on top of the platform itself. These include Drupal, Wordpress, OSCommerce, DotNetNuke, Graffiti, PHPBB, and Gallery,” Martin added.

Microsoft Web Platform Installer Release Candidate is available for download here.