Should you use .Net for your startup?
For those who have not noticed, this is a translation. I apologize in advance if the translation is not quality, some things could not understand how best to translate without distorting the meaning. If you have any comments please write to the PM.
I get this question very often, both from people inside and outside the .Net community, and not so long ago I was asked this question on Quora. Here is my answer. Please keep in mind that this is my opinion, and I cannot promise that I am right, but I can promise that this is what I really think, and if you came up on the street and asked me, “Should I use . Net for my startup? This is what I would answer you.
I know .Net at a high level, and I would like to warn new startups who are considering using .Net about pitfalls. I think that .Net is great, and I myself use it for my own startup HireFlo. However, there is one big problem that could hinder your startup even before it grows - WebForms.
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The fact is that the development of ASP.Net is divided into 2 camps, followed by the main architectural and cultural differences between them.
ASP.Net MVC is a great new application framework that is heavily inspired by Rails and is a startup platform choice, StackExchange is an example. This is a breath of fresh air for qualified .Net developers who want a framework that includes how the web works, not how to fight it. This camp is full of people who care about the skill of writing code, and those who actually supply the finished product. Programmers in this camp are most likely familiar with a large number of open source projects, and, most likely, great for your startup.
The other camp, WebForms, is purulent swamps of evil, spaghetti code, and hate. This is an area of corporate developers who prefer the process of writing code and documentation instead of delivering the finished product and hope that the turtle pace of WebForms development will hide the fact that they have not provided the finished product having spent several years developing and do not see the difference between HTTP GET, and HTTP POST. I'm serious. WebForms and its poisonous PageLifeCyle pattern are a performance hole and they will resist you every step of the way a startup is trying to find a suitable place between your application and meeting market requirements. In addition, WebForms and the damned UpdatePanel make it incredibly difficult to write an application in a new and fashionable style — the JavaScript Single Page App, while tools like Backbone.js, Knockout.js, and jQuery made possible.
Bottom line, .Net is amazing, C # is amazing, MVC3 is very productive, if you find a .Net developer who works with this, I would recommend using it. But you must be careful. WebForms developer with corporate past is likely to be the death of a startup.
Microsoft pushes Azure as a platform for startups. I highly recommend not to use Azure at an early stage of a startup. Developing an application on Azure is slower than .Net development that occurs on a Windows Server OS or VS. Deployment takes more time, debugs take more time, Azure environment is difficult to reproduce on your local computer, backups are very painful, and you are limited to one hosting provider. All this creates a lot of friction and lack of flexibility while a startup requires flexibility and speed more than anything else. You can come to Azure later when scaling is required, but this is not a problem in the early stages.
Listen to the early StackOverflow podcasts and you will hear that for a long time StackOverflow has been spinning on one server. They served millions of unique visitors with a web application and a database on one physical server! It was not very powerful server. This is consistent with my experience .Net - .Net scales well. Thus, if a startup shoots, it is probably much easier to scale the .Net stack than Ruby or PHP.
If you want to build a startup on a stack from Microsoft, they will give you a free license for each product, including SQL Server, as well as a free Gold MSDN subscription for 3 years. They believe that 3 years is enough for you to start working and make a profit. Of course, they want you to later buy new licenses, but at the same time, they allow you to save licenses that you already use. So you do not find yourself in a situation where you just make ends meet, and then after 3 years, Microsoft will charge you a huge bill. They do not do this, they simply allow you to continue to use the software that they have already presented to you. Thus, Microsoft has practically taken the cost out of the equation for new startups.
I get this question very often, both from people inside and outside the .Net community, and not so long ago I was asked this question on Quora. Here is my answer. Please keep in mind that this is my opinion, and I cannot promise that I am right, but I can promise that this is what I really think, and if you came up on the street and asked me, “Should I use . Net for my startup? This is what I would answer you.
I know .Net at a high level, and I would like to warn new startups who are considering using .Net about pitfalls. I think that .Net is great, and I myself use it for my own startup HireFlo. However, there is one big problem that could hinder your startup even before it grows - WebForms.
')
The fact is that the development of ASP.Net is divided into 2 camps, followed by the main architectural and cultural differences between them.
ASP.Net MVC is a great solution for startups.
ASP.Net MVC is a great new application framework that is heavily inspired by Rails and is a startup platform choice, StackExchange is an example. This is a breath of fresh air for qualified .Net developers who want a framework that includes how the web works, not how to fight it. This camp is full of people who care about the skill of writing code, and those who actually supply the finished product. Programmers in this camp are most likely familiar with a large number of open source projects, and, most likely, great for your startup.
WebForms is death for startups
The other camp, WebForms, is purulent swamps of evil, spaghetti code, and hate. This is an area of corporate developers who prefer the process of writing code and documentation instead of delivering the finished product and hope that the turtle pace of WebForms development will hide the fact that they have not provided the finished product having spent several years developing and do not see the difference between HTTP GET, and HTTP POST. I'm serious. WebForms and its poisonous PageLifeCyle pattern are a performance hole and they will resist you every step of the way a startup is trying to find a suitable place between your application and meeting market requirements. In addition, WebForms and the damned UpdatePanel make it incredibly difficult to write an application in a new and fashionable style — the JavaScript Single Page App, while tools like Backbone.js, Knockout.js, and jQuery made possible.
So the answer to this question ... Damn it, yes! You must! (if it is .Net MVC)
Bottom line, .Net is amazing, C # is amazing, MVC3 is very productive, if you find a .Net developer who works with this, I would recommend using it. But you must be careful. WebForms developer with corporate past is likely to be the death of a startup.
There are three other points that I want to add, which I think are relevant.
Do not use Azure at an early stage.
Microsoft pushes Azure as a platform for startups. I highly recommend not to use Azure at an early stage of a startup. Developing an application on Azure is slower than .Net development that occurs on a Windows Server OS or VS. Deployment takes more time, debugs take more time, Azure environment is difficult to reproduce on your local computer, backups are very painful, and you are limited to one hosting provider. All this creates a lot of friction and lack of flexibility while a startup requires flexibility and speed more than anything else. You can come to Azure later when scaling is required, but this is not a problem in the early stages.
ASP.Net MVC / C # / SqlServer Stack Scaled Like Crazy
Listen to the early StackOverflow podcasts and you will hear that for a long time StackOverflow has been spinning on one server. They served millions of unique visitors with a web application and a database on one physical server! It was not very powerful server. This is consistent with my experience .Net - .Net scales well. Thus, if a startup shoots, it is probably much easier to scale the .Net stack than Ruby or PHP.
BizSpark is proof that Microsoft loves programmers and startups
If you want to build a startup on a stack from Microsoft, they will give you a free license for each product, including SQL Server, as well as a free Gold MSDN subscription for 3 years. They believe that 3 years is enough for you to start working and make a profit. Of course, they want you to later buy new licenses, but at the same time, they allow you to save licenses that you already use. So you do not find yourself in a situation where you just make ends meet, and then after 3 years, Microsoft will charge you a huge bill. They do not do this, they simply allow you to continue to use the software that they have already presented to you. Thus, Microsoft has practically taken the cost out of the equation for new startups.
Source: https://habr.com/ru/post/142207/
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