re:
I would have thought that VS 2005 would communicate with IIS without them.
It does.
Take it from the horse's mouth :
http://weblogs.asp.net/scottgu/archive/2005/08/21/423201.aspx
<quote>
A few of the big improvements that we think developers will like:
No More FrontPage Server Extension Requirement
Unlike previous releases of Visual Studio, VS 2005 no longer requires developers to use
or have FPSE (FrontPage Server Extensions) installed in order to create or build web projects.
You can now browse, create, and open local IIS applications and vdirs without FPSE on the box
(instead we now have support for VS 2005 to directly use the IIS Metabase configuration store to
attach and identify sites/apps/vdirs and associated physical path bindings).
You can also edit and open web projects directly off of the file-system, or access them remotely over FTP.
FPSE is still fully supported for those who want it. But if you are in the camp that doesn’t want it
(which based on feedback is 95%+ of you), your _vti_ directories will be a thing of the past.
Also, “Copy Web” supports FTP when copying your web to a remote server.
You can also use FTP after publishing your website to a local folder.
</quote>
Juan T. Llibre, asp.net MVP
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