(June 18, 2003) - Microsoft has released three offerings for Web developers to make it easy to create data-driven Web sites and Web applications: an update to the Microsoft ASP.NET Web Matrix, the release of the ASP.NET Starter Kits, and a resource to easily find ASP.NET Web hosting companies.

One year ago, the ASP.NET Web Matrix, a lightweight WYSIWYG application development tool for ASP.NET, was posted to the Web as a free download. The update includes Microsoft Access database support, several design time enhancements, and other new features suggested by the ASP.NET community. In addition to using Microsoft Visual Basic .NET and C#, developers can now build applications using J#. ASP.NET Web Matrix is available for download.

The ASP.NET Starter Kits are five sample applications ranging in functionality from e-commerce storefronts and community portals to data reporting applications. Each sample application ships with well-documented source code so developers can quickly start viewing and editing the Starter Kit's code with either Visual Studio .NET or ASP.NET Web Matrix.

Now, with the beta cycle complete, Microsoft is releasing the ASP.NET Starter Kits at http://www.asp.net/starterkits. Enhancements have been made to the release version of all the kits, including new features in the Community Starter Kit such as rich HTML content editing, cross-community content replication, and a more flexible content layout.

Web hosters provide services for developers who wish to deploy their applications on the Internet. Microsoft is working with Web hosters to provide high-quality ASP.NET hosting. The listing of hosters can be found at http://www.asp.net/hosters/.

Microsoft also recently launched the MSDN® ASP.NET Developer Center, offering a central focus on MSDN for developers interested in ASP.NET.