BizTalk Platform Installation

Luke's article about configuring the BizTalk platform in preparation for a BizTalk Server installation is required material to have close at hand for those of you installing BizTalk.  The interaction (integration?) with IIS, WSS, SQL Server, VS.Net, and other software is explained

A couple of extracts from the article... 

Installing BizTalk Server 2004 itself is not terribly difficult. In fact it's pretty fast and straightforward. The setup process takes roughly 25 minutes. What can be difficult is building the platform necessary to execute the BizTalk Server runtime. 

and... 

Most of us rip open a new software package, load the disk, and click furiously away at the folder structure. As soon as we find some vague hint that an .msi or .exe file is the setup program, we double-click it and never look back. Just as you blew through the folder tree and missed that one obscure file called readme.htm, you most likely skipped the planning documents that are referenced with BizTalk Server 2004. Who cares? Right?

Well, if you are a new user, that can be a mistake that can cost you hours of lost productivity. Unlike most other software, BizTalk Server is an engine built on a complex platform that requires careful planning and a general understanding of the prerequisite software prior to installing.

Thanks for the very useful collection of information, Luke.