IIS Community Portal is here... !!!

I'm super excited to add this post to announce the release of IIS Community Portal -www.iis.net . To tell you, I've been waiting for it to be public so that I can blog about the site and open up on IIS7 features, tips & tricks.

You might think why a community site for a server product? How are administrators going to contribute to a community site. Will it be asking questions and providing answers ? Then why a portal and why not just a forum?

With the release of IIS7 (available in beta on Vista & Longhorn Server builds) and also on the CTP (Community Tech Preview) releases of the OS, there is a lot of meat added to developers.

Prior to IIS7 it was VC++ developer friend because they could write ISAPI Filters & ISAPI Extensions to extend features of prior versions of IIS till IIS6. Then came ASP.NET and HTTP Handlers & Modules.  But then with the architecture of IIS6, the control of http request processing was handled 1st by ISAPI's (you know why VC guys feel so proud) and then given a chance to .NET counter parts.

Now with IIS7 the door is open for "Managed Code Developers" as well. Can you believe that?

hmmm so now you're getting some hint on why we need IIS portal and not just a forum. So challenge would be for developers both managed & unmanaged world, to be creative and start developing your ideas into components like never before !!!

So am I just talking about the same HTTP Handlers & HTTP Modules?

Noooo, you can, not only change the way existing stuff works (like before) but also REPLACE default components.... Isn't that awesome power for us (developers) to dive in?

Best example would be the sample Bill Staples showcased on how to change the look and feel of "Directory browsing" with cool image thumbnails... (See the video available at www.iis.net)

But replacing features are not at all limited to the above mentioned sample but your creative thinking. Everything becomes easy because now you can use your favorite .NET language for developing.