Ruslan Yakushev has a new post about a major update to the latest beta release of the Microsoft WebMatrix tool - the update of the PHP version to support 5.3 and the inclusion of PEAR.

WebMatrix Beta 3 release has been announced recently. This release includes many new cool features that are described in release announcement and in the Web Deploy team blog. In addition to all those improvements, WebMatrix Beta 3 has much better support for PHP.

The updates make it possible to use 5.3 (prior versions only supported 5.2.x), an update to allow PHP to be enabled on a new empty site and the inclusion of PEAR whenever PHP is installed. He includes a few screenshots and instructions to help guide you through the process of getting 5.3 set up. PEAR is automatically installed when you install this latest PHP update.