In ASP.NET 2.0, Microsoft has put a lot of focus on making the technology more accessible to the general developer community. A key deliverable in this strategy is the release of an entire suite of low cost ( currently FREE ) "Express" tools. Included in the "Express" line is a tool named "Visual Web Developer" which provides a functional integrated development environment ( IDE ) for ASP.NET 2.0. It also includes features for managing SQL Server 2005 Express, a powerful new database engine for local web development.
