With the launch today at MIX09 of Microsoft’s Windows Web Application Gallery we are thrilled to announce that Umbraco is already integrated with this excellent platform.  We worked hand-in-hand with the Microsoft Web Team to quickly integrate the latest Umbraco release (4.0) with the Windows Web Application Gallery.

With Microsoft’s revision to the Web Platform Installer and Web Deployment technologies we believe the case for building your web solution on the Microsoft Web Platform is irrefutable.  (We at Motus Connect have made this assertion from the founding of out practice.)  Using the Web Platform Installer a user can now install and configure all the components of a web solution (even a PHP-MySQL solution!) using a single interface – the enormity of this set in when I was setting up a new web server and wanted to install the Microsoft Web Platform, MySql, ASP.NET MVC, and Umbraco.  Until now that process entailed visiting numerous different web sites (Microsoft, CodePlex, SourceForge) and individually installing the components of the platform – it is not an understatement to say that it was a real pain in the bum! 

Enter Web Platform Installer – now I can get all of the above components (including Umbraco!) from a single source, within a single interface.  What’s more, the Web Platform Installer does more than just gather the various downloads into a single interface, it installs and configures the components based on the best practices as provided by each component’s author.  For Umbraco, we set the required ACL’s, connection strings, and database security as part of the install.  No more slogging through a 30+ page installation guide.  Just click, click, click and bam! you’ve gone from zero to web app in a few minutes and can get on with the business of doing what you do best – creating web solutions (unless you *like* installing web components).

For web developers this is no small thing as is stands to significantly boost our productivity.  For the Umbraco project this is a fantastic development as more exposure is always a good thing.  As we who are involved with Umbraco on a daily basis know; once you’ve had Umbraco it’s *really* hard to go back to another CMS/Framework.  Umbraco’s presence in the Windows Web Application Gallery allows Umbraco to stand side-by-side with its peers Drupal, and DNN; and will allow even more web developers to discover and fall in love with the Friendly CMS. 

Go check out the Web Application Installer and the Windows Web Application Gallery now.  If you just want to get on with it, here’s the direct link to Web Platform Installer for Umbraco

-Paul

In preparation for this year’s Umbraco Codegarden 2009 in Copenhagen I decided to try and obtain an award-travel itinerary from Seattle to Copenhagen.  For last year’s Codegarden I purchased an itinerary on SAS in coach for nearly $2,000 (USD).  Although SAS offers a very convenient direct Seattle to Copenhagen flight, the level of comfort was low and the cost high – I arrived tired, stinky and found working (which we were there to do) very difficult.

Having heard the extreme pessimism surrounding the ability to actually locate and book one of these itineraries without being forced to use the higher point requirement (200,000), I was not very optimistic.  I collect most of my award points in Continental’s OnePass program and also have an American Express card which earns points that are transferrable to the OnePass program.  All in I had 96,000 points available in the OnePass program.  Note:  these points do seem to add up fast as I had previously booked an award itinerary in December 2007 for Seattle to Copenhagen. 

Continental provides an online booking engine for award travel and allows you to book on partner airlines as well.  My first attempts were fruitless, but a bit of perseverance paid off and I was able to locate an itinerary from Vancouver, BC, Canada (about 30 minutes from my home, hooray!) to Amsterdam in Business class on Northwest for 100,000 points.  Good enough, the dates fit perfectly and, while Northwest Business class isn’t Virgin’s Upper class, not having to sit in coach for a 10+ hour flight is a huge benefit.  I booked it entirely online (including the purchase of the additional 4,000 points I needed) and received immediate confirmation.  Kudos Continental!

All that was left was to book from Amsterdam to Copenhagen.  As it turned out I had just enough points in my SAS EuroBonus account to book a very convenient itinerary, not in Business class but since the flight is only 80-minutes long it’s not of much concern.  SAS also provides an online booking engine and I was able to locate, book, and confirm this itinerary in less than 15-minutes.  Kudos SAS!

Granted this itinerary is not quite as direct as Seattle to Copenhagen nonstop, however the extra couple of hours in travel time will be made up for by the more comfortable seating…at least I hope so.  In addition, the total cost covering taxes and fees was less than $230 (USD), just a fraction of what I could’ve otherwise spent.  As far as the level of booking difficulty and time-required – while it certainly took longer than sending a request to a travel agent and receiving a complete itinerary in return, it did not require more than one-hour of effort in total, I consider that a fair trade-off.