Article of interest: "The Easy Way To Install PHP on Windows [IIS]"

If anyone is still interested in using IIS as their testing web platform, the following article over at SitePoint may be of interest. :

The Easy Way To Install PHP on Windows [IIS]
By Louis Simoneau

"Earlier this year Microsoft released a small piece of software called the Web Platform Installer (Web PI)—a dead-simple way to install a complete suite of web software on your Windows machine. It offers IIS with a number of extensions, SQL Server, ASP.NET, PHP, and a wide range of free web applications and tools. <!--

--> As I’ve already mentioned, there’s no need to worry about dependencies. If the Installer detects that a necessary component is missing from your selection, it will grab it for you. For example, this pleasant surprise: the Installer will automatically download and install MySQL if you’re installing an application that requires it (such as Drupal or WordPress)."

That's great information. I am glad to see that IIS is finally becoming a bit more easier. While I currently run just Mac and Linux systems, I remember my days of once managing an IIS server and thinking it was, literally, the hardest thing in the world to understand.

Best regards,

Brian

Absolutely - it took me days sifting through conflicting reports of installation procedures (IIS, FastCGI, PHP, MySql, ISAPI) and getting little sympathy from the newsgroup super-techs who always seemed to keep the final secret to themselves.

Microsoft doing their 'better late than never' thing again.

Neilo,

That sounds identical to what my situation was like with IIS. In fact, I remember finally asking the server company why I paid nearly 300/month for what was the worst experience I have ever had in computers. They would always act like the cryptic nature of it was just part of the deal. I spent many hours on the remote desktop trying to set up sites and make sure I had all the necessary programs and services running. I never could get it to run smooth. So, that's what ultimately forced my hand in switching from expensive ColdFusion IIS-based hosting to PHP on Linux and everything has been far better. In fact, I think I became a better programmer overall when I started over and learned PHP from the ground up.

Regards,

Brian

I was a Microsoft partner for years and never got a Windows server working the way I wanted it to. When I made the move from Novel Netware to Windows, I couldn't find a single consultant that was able to eliminate all errors in the logs. They said it was just part of the territory.

I started installing Linux servers instead of Windows servers and never looked back. The clients loved them, and I loved them because they were so much easier to support.

At one time there was a call for corporations to abandon IIS completely because it was considered impossible to make secure.

For the desktop, I still use Windows XP behind a Linux firewall and that works fine. I just don't trust Windows servers. Why pay extra for that level of frustration?

Wow... it really amazes me that Microsoft has completely not gone under when I talk to fellow web professionals about IIS (at least in the server world). It seems that the same sentiment is shared by all about the product. I have yet to meet one person who has IIS, ASP, and/or .net - all working correctly to spec. There always seems to be at least some problem. The scary thing is just how much money is spent by corporations in training for IIS, exchange servers, and the like. You can even go into any Barnes & Noble and there are entire sections dedicated to Microsoft Server and Microsoft Server Programming. Linux, however, just works! And it's so much cheaper that it is actually affordable to have a pro hosting company host it, manage it, and add security updates as needed.

Novel had the superior product, Microsoft had the superior Marketing Department.

I had to have at least 2 certified Novel engineers (very expensive) to be a Gold Partner for Novel or I pretty much didn't exist. Microsoft sent me to free training events with free lunches, and gave me thousands of dollars worth of NFR (not for resale) software for the cost of the materials (about $300).

Small wonder they took over Novel's market share.

BTW have you noticed that every book put out by Microsoft always leaves out a little something for the next book in the series to handle? Sometimes I think they make more on training than on their software. They also change their interface just enough every time so people buy the book to relearn what they knew before. I just keep re-setting everything back to "Classic". That way the clients are much happier with upgrades.

When Apple was just a young unknown company, they stood out at events with unusual marketing as well. At one event they had an old English style double decker bus to take us back to our hotel. The guys at their booth handed me an invitation to their hospitality suite. I stuffed it in the bag with the rest of them. When we started to get hungry, we looked to see which invite we would use. Apple had rented Disneyland for the night. We never made it to the other vendors suites.

That's a great story and ironic considering that Apple OWNS a good chunk of Disneyland now! But I'm not mad at them or Steve... I'm a shareholder of both, as well.

4 great companies, all with different strengths. Think what they would be like if they were combined. Sleek shiny laptops with great networking, a library of books, and big ears. :)

One of the things that got my attention with the Apple II was the architecture of the motherboard was very similar to the $60,000 mini computer we were using at work. Made programming much easier. Then the IBM PC came out and I pretty much forgot about the Apple II.