Sasha Sydoruk asks, “Where are all the cool startups that run on ASP.NET?”
Well I’m not sure if we’re considered cool enough, but we choose ASP.NET over Java for a variety of reasons.
ASP.NET is easier to setup and deploy
Since Jumptree Project is download software, we needed to ensure that we could readily support our customer’s installation and deployment process.
Have you ever run into problems deploying a Java application and then having to spend hours going through your configuration files and resolving library conflicts? Fun!
Java may be multi-platform, but there are numerous middleware implementations of J2EE—each with its own quirks. So instead of spending time improving your application, you end up having to answer support calls on why your Tomcat application doesn’t work on IBM Websphere.
With .NET, the environment is pretty much standard—so it’s a lot easier for us to provide support.
It’s easier to develop in ASP.NET because it’s just so RAD
The .NET platform supports a vast array of libraries that makes a developer’s life a whole lot easier compared to traditional ASP and Java.
There are a few Java frameworks that stand out, like JSTL, JSF, Struts, Spring, etc., but to make them work together is a painful and convoluted process.
ASP.NET isn’t that expensive
Yes, Java is free. Java Editor Eclipse is free. Java runtime is free. Apache/Tomcat web/servlet server is free.
Free is good.
And this may be the biggest reason why a lot of startups choose something other than .NET.
However, for US $375 you can join the Microsoft Empower for ISVs program and get a whole lotta software, including Visual Studio, Windows Server, SQL Server, Office, MSDN Premium Subscription…
Of course $375 vs. Free isn’t really much of a fight, but do consider the hidden costs—like how much easier it is to setup a .NET environment.
Great community support
There are a lot of great .NET blogs and resources such as The Code Project, 4 Guys From Rolla, NetFx3, and CodePlex—a site hosting open source projects.
And if you run into any problems, just check out the asp.net forum where Microsoft actually has employees answering your questions! Gotta love it when a multi-billion dollar company is trying to promote something…
One platform, multi-language
What happens if your C# developer decides to leave halfway through a project?
Don’t worry because you can just as readily hire a VB.NET developer to continue the work because the .NET platform can interpret both languages.
And if you don’t like C# or VB.NET go ahead and try Ruby or Python.
The whole product
In Crossing the Chasm
The concept is very straightforward: There is a gap between the marketing promise made to the customer—the compelling value proposition—and the ability of the shipped product to fulfill that promise. For that gap to be overcome, the product must be augmented by a variety of services and ancillary products to become the whole product.
Page 108, 2002 Edition
Essentially, the whole product is the sum of the product plus anything else that might benefit the customer, such as technical support, add-ons, and system integration.
So by choosing .NET, we can leverage all the work that Microsoft has done to promote it. And when the time comes, we can more easily integrate our project management software with popular Microsoft products, like Outlook, Excel, and SharePoint.
What are you good at?
Ultimately, you should choose a language that you are familiar with and good at. I could have spent time learning Ruby on Rails, PHP or any of the other trendy languages, but I just needed to get started.
And so when I had to choose between Java and .NET—well…that was an easy choice.