Companies that build a Web site using Microsoft"s .Net Framework tools could be in for a surprise if they use Microsoft"s bCentral Web hosting service: It won"t work.
Microsoft bCentral, which provides Web site hosting and services to small companies, lacks support for the software development package, a Microsoft representative confirmed Thursday. Microsoft has said it is testing the framework with bCentral, but it has yet to finish the testing, which means bCentral is unable to host Web sites created with Microsoft"s own latest generation of .Net tools.
Martin Michaels Inc. said it is considering a switch to another Web hosting company because of the problem, said Todd Heflin, head of Atlanta-based company. The Helflin said they had planned to launch a new version of its Web site last week that was created using Active Server Pages .Net. But the marketing firm postponed that plan after discovering it couldn"t load the Web pages to bCentral"s servers, said Heflin.
Despite this, the main reason for the lack of support for .Net Framework is that few of bCentral"s 15,000 customers have asked for it, according to the Microsoft representative.