For those who have looked at doing their own web hosting the acronym LAMP or WAMP is familiar: Linux/Windows, Apache, MySQL and PHP.  Wrapped in an easy to install package with some management thrown in this is a simple one step install to get yourself an up and running web based application.

I’m familiar with Windows so I tried out a few WAMP packages to get WordPress, Drupal and Joomla running on my network so I could see what they’re all about.  All fairly straightforward to get running but like a lot of server type items if you have to get your hands dirty in the innards it can get messy.

Not to be outdone by free and opensource software Microsoft released it’s own free WAMP package called Microsoft Web Platform consisting of SQL Server, ASP.NET, IIS and Visual Studio.  It features a one click install and has custom one click install packages available such as WordPress and Gallery.

All together it’s an easy installation and configuration and provides an alternative for those more comfortable with Microsoft products.