With the WSS extensions for Visual Studio 2005/2008, you get a few useful templates to use when developing Sharepoint applications. Templates included are:

• Web Part
• Team Site Definition
• Blank Site Definition
• List Definition
• Empty

I've only tested the Web Part template so for, but at least that one work flawlessly. Get the WSS extensions for either Visual Studio 2008 or 2005 depending on which version you use:

Windows Sharepoint Services 3.0 Tools: Visual Studio 2008 Extensions, Version 1.2
Windows SharePoint Services 3.0 Tools: Visual Studio 2005 Extensions, Version 1.1

WSS project templates installed in Visual Studio 2008:

Having WSS installed on you developer machine when doing Sharepoint development would of course make things easier. Especially when it comes to debugging. As you know, Sharepoint Services now require Windows Server to install, but I found a nice little utility that help you get around this problem:

How to install Windows SharePoint Services 3.0 SP1 in Vista x64/x86

This worked great, so now I have a working local installation of WSS 3.0 that I can use to test and debug Web Parts directly on my laptop:

Just make sure to update "Start browser with URL" in the project properties so that Visual Studio knows where to deploy the web part when running/debugging:

Of course, this solution is in no way supported by Microsoft, but as far as I can understand it does not violate the WSS license.

After a few years away from Sharepoint development, I am now working on a project that, among other things, require some Web Parts to be delivered. The last time I touched base with WSS was just after Microsoft released their first version, and I recall it being a quite cumbersome experience. Because of this, I have intentionally stayed as far away from it as possible. People tell me much have changed for the better since then though, and I guess Sharepoint's huge popularity these days should be enough to prove me wrong.

I'll keep you posted on how it goes.