Microsoft (Nasdaq: MSFT) on Thursday released WebMatrix, a free Web development tool that it claims lets website developers of all skill levels create, customize and publish websites to the Internet easily.

It also announced an ecosystem of 40 open source application partners around WebMatrix.

This is a revival of a previous project, also called “WebMatrix,” that offered a free tool in 2002 to help Web developers get started with ASP.Net, Microsoft representative Jackie Lawrence told TechNewsWorld.

Microsoft has long been at war with the open source movement — could this be an attempt to re-establish its credibility with OSS adherents?

The Threads Making Up WebMatrix

WebMatrix includes IIS Express, a development Web server; ASP.net, which is a Web framework; and SQL Server Compact, an embedded database, Microsoft representative Lawrence said.

It also includes Razor, a new inline syntax for coding pages that adds dynamic functionality to HTML. This syntax minimizes the number of keystrokes required, Lawrence said. It doesn’t require users to learn a new language.

Microsoft plans to use Razor with standard inline pages as well as with future ASP.Net MVC releases as an optional view engine, Lawrence stated. MVC stands for Model View Controller.

Microsoft’s shipping a beta release of ASP.Net MVC 3 with WebMatrix and NuPack. ASP.Net MVC 3 enables clean separation between models and views, reducing complexity in architectural design and increasing the flexibility and manageability of the code, Lawrence remarked.

WebMatrix lets developers write code in HTML, CSS (Cascading Style Sheets) or JavaScript. Developers can use it to write HTML5 code, Lawrence said.

WebMatrix is integrated with the NuGet open source package management system. Formerly called “NuPack,” NuGet lets developers who maintain open source projects package up their libraries and register them with an online gallery or catalog that’s searchable. Client-side NuGet tools include full Microsoft Visual Studio integration.

WebMatrix supports multiple programming syntaxes, including ASP.Net, Razor and PHP, as well as Web helpers. Web helpers give a single line-of-code solution for complex coding tasks such as inserting Twitter feeds of video, Lawrence said.

Further, WebMatrix includes a search engine optimization reporting tool so users can build search-friendly websites….Read More

Great scene here from a great movie, loaded with a lot of great actors. Spencer Tracy was great in this movie (Nominated for Best Actor), everyone should rent it. Here’s  a very good description of this classic:

American isolationism has rarely been so caustically handled as it is in John Sturges’s muscular and magnificent Bad Day at Black Rock, an 81-minute sucker-punch of a movie that has not aged a day since its release over a half-century ago. The film, presented in a beautiful new 35 mm Scope print starting this week, was the first to confront Japanese internment and subsequent xenophobia following Pearl Harbor, and it doesn’t gloss over the psychological toll of the era’s ubiquitous distrust. In the town of Black Rock, not a soul wanders without the weight of post-war guilt slung over their shoulders.

Dressed in black and missing an arm from serving in Italy during the war, John J. Macreedy (Spencer Tracy in an Oscar-nominated performance) steps off a train in the sparsely populated town of Black Rock and is seen immediately as a threat by the nine or ten visible occupants of the town. His cordiality doesn’t help things: From the moment he asks for a room to stay in and a hot shower, his every action is met with verbal hostility and imposing physicality from a couple of “cowboys” who roam the town…Read More

This scene has the Sergio Leone’s signature written all over it. Here’s more from a great website devoted to this great director (Fistful-of Leone):

Once Upon A Time In The West

After finishing The Good, The Bad, and the Ugly, Leone planned to work on a film titled Once Upon A Time in America. He wanted to do something different than the western that had brought him fame. Yet the studios knew that another western would be very popular, since the Dollars trilogy did quite well, especially for how little money was put into making them. So, Leone agreed to do another one, titled Once Upon a Time in the West.

The first treatment came from Bernardo Bertolucci, cult-favorite Italian Horror director Dario Agento, and Leone, but was significantly reworked by Sergio Leone and Sergio Donati. Before the film was shot, Ennio Morricone had already written the music, which included a prominent harmonica which Leone decided to add to the film. Thus the plot was completed. But the plot in this movie hardly matters much. The plot keeps the movie going, but it is not what makes the movie special.

The story concerns, once again, a man with no name (Charles Bronson). He’s out for revenge, targeting Frank (Henry Fonda), a ruthless killer hired by a railroad boss. The railroad boss Mr. Morton wants the land of Jill McBain (Claudia Cardinale), and the man with no name and his newfound ally Cheyenne (James Robards) team up to defeat the railroad boss and Frank.

The plot is admittedly lifted from Johnny Guitar, starring Sterling Hayden. Well, that’s what they tell you, at least. To some extent, it is true. But anyone who has seen Johnny Guitar knows that only a few elements of the film were borrowed. Namely, the presence of a loner, a bandit and his men, and the defense of a beautiful woman’s land. Many other specifics, such as Frank, the railroad tycoon, the quest for revenge, and in fact most of the latter part of the plot is different. However, it is not original, intentionally. Leone combined elements of many famous westerns to create the perfect one for this movie. At any rate, Johnny Guitar is certainly not to Once Upon a Time in the West what Yojimbo was to A Fistful of Dollars…..Read More

The “Bullit” Scene (Great Description): Where were you in 1968? You might have opened up the movie section of the newspaper and read a review about the newly released movie BULLITT. One such review, by the National Observer, said, ” Whatever you have heard about the auto chase scene in BULLITT is probably true…a terrifying, deafening shocker.” Life magazine wrote, “… a crime flick with a taste of genius…an action sequence that must be compared to the best in film history.”With reviews like that, and sharing double billing with the hit BONNIE AND CLYDE, BULLITT devastated audiences with incredible scenes of leaping, screaming automobiles that seemed to fly off the screen. Among all of Hollywood’s road movies, BULLITT unquestionably made film history with its original car chase sequences. There may have been chase scenes before, but nothing before or since has equalled the intensity and impact of BULLITT. The scenes, which were novelty then but classic now, were brilliantly executed. Over the years, fans have asked questions about the two cars used in the movie, a 1968 Dodge Charger and a 1968 Mustang GT. Of all the musclecars offered in the late sixties, why were these two cars chosen, and how were they modified to survive the torturous driving?

It’s been 19 years since BULLITT was filmed, however the magic of this special movie has not diminished. We questioned some of the crew who participated in the filming, and asked them how the chase was coordinated and shot, who was involved in the chase scenes and what happened during the filming. Steve McQueen and director Peter Yates brought in some of the best names in the business in preparation for the filming of BULLITT’s chase scenes, and we were able to track some of them down. We interviewed Carey Loftin, stunt coordinator for BULLITT and occasional driver of the BULLITT Mustang; Bud Elkins, the main stunt driver of the Mustang, aside from McQueen; and Loren Janes, who had doubled for McQueen for nearly 20 years and stunted for McQueen during the airport sequence at the end of the film. We also interviewed Max Balchowsky, the man responsible for maintaining the Mustang GT and the Charger throughout the filming. Finally, we spoke with Ron Riner, who acted as transportation coordinator for Warner Brothers on the BULLITT set….. Keep Reading