This is a common scenario:

You need to install the product X, so you go and download it. Once you have executed the installer a warning message is shown about the missing dependency Y, so you search it on internet and when you find it you discover that it requires Z but you don’t worry because you already have it installed, moving on, you download and run the installer of Y, but then it comes that it required a newer version of Z… The never ending story! Your blood pressure raises to the clouds and you crash the keyboard against the screen, kick the box and whatever is under the desk, take the first heavy thing you find and throw it thought the window, and you see your pet on the sofa so you… relax! Don’t do it! The Web Platform Installer (Web PI) has come to save your physical integrity and people near you. How?: It greatly eases the entire labor of installing a product including every task that may require to get it to work.

So the Web PI is a sort of:

• Catalog of free Microsoft applications, frameworks and tools: you can use it to browse and find a bunch of Microsoft products available to install.
• Dependencies checker: it is capable of checking the supported environment and the entire dependencies tree of a product.
• Downloader manager: it takes care of finding and downloading each of the files needed to install the products you want.
• Full installer: not only installs the product you choose but also all of the required dependencies for it to work and it makes all the job almost unattended.
• Setup wrapper: it can create a facade over the installer process to show its own custom UI for a nice integration between the installer (it could be an EXE, MSI, MSU or ZIP file) and Web PI.
• Updater: Web PI uses an ATOM feed to keep up to date its catalog of products so you can install the newest version of your products.
• IIS Configurator: If you installs a web application that requires installing/enabling certain IIS componentes/roles, Web PI will do it for you.

Ohh!… How I wished to have all of this stuff for installing Team Foundation Server!!!

You can download it at the Microsoft Web Platform portal: http://www.microsoft.com/web/downloads/platform.aspx

Once you have installed the Web PI you can use it to browse the available applications to install. You can also browse the Web App Gallery and install any application by just clicking on the “Install” button which will launch Web PI with the product selected waiting for your confirmation to install.

Notice that the Web PI is restricted to the currently available Microsoft products (free developer tools and web applications) and is not aimed to be used as an installer for your own products.

Also I’d recommend to read this post from Scott Guthrie to find more details and screenshots.

I hope you can take advantage of the Web PI as much as I did. I will continue posting about Web PI for you to know how it works and how to get the best from this tool, so be tuned!