Magento is an ecommerce framework vendor where we recently developed a prototype. I started off with installing Magento Community Edition from http://www.magentocommerce.com/download
Magento offers demo data as optional installation. If you are installing for first time it’s recommended to also download the demo data.
Before installing you need a Wamp or XAMP installed on your windows machine. If you install the latest version it may not be supported as yet so do check the System Requirements from http://www.magentocommerce.com/system-requirements page before copying downloaded files in your web folder. Load the sample data in magento database and point to your browser to magento web folder. Rest of the installation is straightforward and once you setup the passwords you are done.
Browse to the admin panel and there are plenty of things to configure from extensions to add-ons to third party integrations. The crux of the magento is in these configurations. Once configured the payment method and other customizations you are done! Now next step is to add modify the product catalog. Since we loaded the sample data its already there. Your first magento application is now ready.
If don’t want to do even these steps there is a easier way out to directly go for hosted solution checkout http://go.magento.com/plans/
Conclusion: eCommerce app development couldn’t get easier than this!
