Kentico Software has announced that it's trying something different with the latest version of its flagship content management system software, Kentico CMS for ASP.NET. It's giving it away.It seems like a smart move -- the content management system marketplace is crowded, and by offering a feature-rich, free version, Kentico separates itself from the pack. Granted, the free version has some limitations (a matrix of each version shows what features are available) but it will give you a taste of what the CMS is all about, and hopefully entice you into licensing one of its other, more robust products.

Kentico CMS has built up what appears to be a loyal, satisfied customer base. There's a page on its site with a couple dozen testimonials and it has links to dozens of the sites built on the CMS. This willingness to show off its customer base reflects real pride in its product.

Kentico CMS 3.1 is a value-minded solution -- licensing starts at about $750 -- but the product has a lot to offer. All versions cover the basics that you'd expect, including simple-to-use WYSIWYG editors, support for forms, and solid search capabilities. It also includes support for a number of social networking features, including blogs, forums, calendaring, user accounts, and private messaging. In addition, more expensive but still reasonably priced versions include workflow and e-commerce features.

Because it's based on ASP.NET, Microsoft-centric teams should be able to rapidly develop and deploy new features in an environment that they're familiar with. For a budget-minded shop with a Microsoft development environment and infrastructure, Kentico CMS should definitely be on the short list of products to evaluate, and its free version is a great way to take it for a spin.