Microsoft Advances Content Management Platform

By Richard Karpinski

Microsoft Tuesday released a beta version of its Content Management Server 2002 with support for Web services and enhanced authoring tools.

Microsoft's content tool is part of its .Net family, sitting alongside BizTalk Server, SharePoint Portal Server, and other server platforms. It also features integration with Visual Studio .Net, Microsoft's development toolkit, and the ASP.Net Web site framework.

Microsoft is a relatively late arriver to markets such as content management and portal development, but its applications in those areas are gaining strong traction -- as expected -- among Windows shops.

New features for the content management platform include the ability to publish directly to the corporate Web site from within Microsoft Word via the new Authoring Connector for Microsoft Office. The connector makes it easier for office workers to publish to the Web and minimizes Webmaster bottlenecks.

Also new is support for .Net- and XML-based Web services, including the ability to expose content as Web services for content syndication. New pre-built content management controls and source-code management tools are aimed at developers that want greater control over Web site building.

The content server also works with Microsoft Application Center for help in managing individual Web sites and more expansive server farms. Developers gain the ability to do scheduled deployments, automatic registration of server control components, and incremental deployments.

The Content Management Server 2002 beta can be downloaded from the Microsoft Web site.