WebMatrix

Microsoft has released a new suite for doing web development. It is called WebMatrix. Of course it uses some lightweight existing components from Microsoft.

WebMatrix combines Internet Explorer Express with SQL Server Compact Edition. You also get a light framework. The cost for WebMatrix is free. Currently it is in Beta mode.

This is a very simple approach to developing web sites and even apps. It is targeting the Linux Apache MySQL PHP camp.

WebMatrix generates mostly industry standard file types in ASCII format such as HTML. The only Microsoft specific file it seems to create is ASP.