Microsoft’s previewed a programming toolset code-named Volta that’s targeted at easing the  development of applications for the Internet.

An excerpt from ComputerWorld:

“You can start by building your app to run on the client, but then for performance reasons, you can easily move part of the code back to the server any time during the development process,”said Alex Daley, group product manager at Microsoft’s Live Labs division. That gives developers “fine-grained control” over the performance of programs and can help speed up development and debugging while minimizing the amount of recoding that needs to be done, he added.

Volta is based on Microsoft’s .NET framework, and the Common Language Runtime (think bytecode for Java) gives developers the freedom to choose from multiple languages to build Web applications.

Microsoft has pitched Volta as a platform to let IT developers well versed in .NET focus on the functionality part of Web applications.

One concern about the platform is Microsoft’s commitment to other Web browsers, as pointed out by Ed Brunnete of ZDNet (although Microsoft has tested Volta on FireFox). Ed also believes that, with Volta, Microsoft is playing catchup with Google and Adobe.

If you are a .NET developer, do you think that these latest developments are phenomenal?

More information:

Microsoft Ships Volta Web Development Tool (eWeek)

Microsoft offers Volta preview for Web apps development (PC World, Australia)