Microsoft has re-introduced a new version of its "WebMatrix" package for entry-level web developers. Not merely an incremental upgrade, the new WebMatrix is a totally new product with the old branding.
WebMatrix is its own thing, living in the space below Visual Studio (even the "Express" version) and doing its own thing. Yet it still uses .NET and C#. It has a neat little syntax, with things like:
value = @Request["username"];
It can use the auto-typing constructs of the modern C# language, and you can declare variables with "var" and let the compiler figure out the type. Microsoft has taken the unusual step of supporting an alien technology (PHP) in the package. They've worked hard on this product.
The real question is: does this new incarnation of WebMatrix have a future? It's a neat tool for web development. Some might say that it is what ASP.NET should have been. If ASP was "version 1", and ASP.NET was "version 2", then this is the famous "version 3" with which Microsoft succeeds.
But the time for web development has come and gone. WebMatrix is aimed at hobbyists, people working with a lighter tool than even the free Express version of Visual Studio. I don't know how many people are in that situation.
The WebMatrix product fills in a box on Microsoft's "we have solutions for all markets" diagram, but I have to wonder how many people live in that particular corner. WebMatrix is for hobbyists, and hobbyists have little money. The money is clearly in the enterprise packages, and enterprises won't be using WebMatrix. If Microsoft wants to grow an "ecosystem" of developers, their tools for hobbyists will have to offer something more than web apps. Hobbyists have moved on to mobile apps, mainly the iPhone and Android. The idea of WebMatrix strikes me as too little, too late.
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