Today, Microsoft has announced the launch of a new Program for Web Professionals, WebsiteSpark that provides software, support and coming soon, a marketplace to help Web Professionals grow their business.

What does the program provide?

WebSiteSpark provides software licenses that you can use for three years at no cost.  Once enrolled, you can download and immediately use the following software from Microsoft:

• 3 licenses of Visual Studio 2008 Professional Edition
• 1 license of Expression Studio 3 (including Expression Blend, Sketchflow, and Web)
• 2 licenses of Expression Web 3
• 4 processor licenses of Windows Web Server 2008 R2
• 4 processor licenses of SQL Server 2008 Web Edition
• DotNetPanel control panel (enabling easy remote/hosted management of your servers)

That means, the program provides with with everything you need in order to create, deploy, host and manage your web applications!

Who can join the program?

WebSiteSpark is available to independent web developers and small web development companies.  The only two requirements to join the program are:

1. Your company builds web sites and web application on behalf of others.
2. Your company currently has less than 10 employees.

If you meet these requirements you can visit the WebsiteSpark website and sign-up today. 

Also announced is the RTM of the Web Platform Installer 2.0 which provides even more features such as the IIS SEO Toolkit and the Windows Web Application Gallery now with over 20 ASP.NET and PHP applications. Beginning now and through 2009 all of this will be localized in 9 languages making the Microsoft Web Platform the choice for web developers and designers around the world to build better web experiences.

Applications in the Web Application Gallery

• ResourceBlender.NET
• Gallery
• Umbraco
• mojoPortal
• DotNetNuke® Community Edition
• BlogEngine.NET
• nopCommerce
• Kentico CMS for ASP.NET
• WordPress
• ScrewTurn Wiki
• Acquia Drupal
• nService
• DasBlog
• Amplifeeder
• SilverStripe CMS
• Subtext
• Gallery Server Pro
• SugarCRM
• Sitefinity Community Edition
• AtomSite
• Moodle