Commentary
Chronicle Of A Startup: Microsoft Or Open Source?
The biggest choice I face in launching my Web 2.0 site is that of underlying technology platform. So I'm throwing the question open: Should I go with a Microsoft software stack or open source?The biggest choice I face in launching my Web 2.0 site is that of underlying technology platform. So I'm throwing the question open: Should I go with a Microsoft software stack or open source?I'm truly agnostic on this decision, but I'll say up front that I'm leaning toward Microsoft, mainly because I'm guessing that it will be easier to find qualified programming help. I'm not a technician, and I don't have a budget to hire one. Since the programming work will be outsourced to freelancers, I'm guessing that it will be easier to find Visual Studio/Silverlight programmers than PHP or Ruby on Rails help. But that's merely a hunch; I haven't researched it.
I bounced my idea off Toli Kuznets, co-founder and CTO of Marketcetera, a startup that I recently profiled in InformationWeek. Marketcetera is a commercial open source company, so Toli is obviously biased toward open source. If I were based in San Francisco, this would be a no-brainer -- the vast majority of Bay Area Web startups are working with the open source LAMP stack, he says. In New York, where I live, that's not necessarily true.
More SMB Insights
White Papers
- Creating the Enterprise-Class Tablet Environment - by Yankee Group
- How To Regain IT Control In An Increasingly Mobile World - by BlackBerry
Reports
More >>Webcasts
- Effective IT Inventory and Asset Management: From Quagmire to Quick Fix
- Maximize ROI with Database Consolidation onto Private Clouds
Toli had two suggestions: One is to post the job (code-named Project Melville and first described here) on eLancer or a similar site where contractors can bid on it. I could see who nibbles -- VB, PHP, or Ruby programmers -- and at what price. Second, Toli thought it might be worth checking out Google as an alternative platform for building a Web site.
Some of the key characteristics of my unnamed site are that it must be Web 2.0-like in look and feel -- video, a blog, social networking, user-generated content are all part of the plan. It needs to be modular in design and highly interactive. Do those requirements make the choice easier?
Having outsourced some programming work himself, Toli also gave me a more realistic estimate on how much I should be prepared to spend to get the site up and running. While some optimistic advisers suggested that I try to build the site at zero cost, Toli said I should be prepared to spend $5,000 to $10,000 in total on design, programming, integration, and hosting.
So, I'm looking for advice here: Do I build my site using Microsoft software, open source, or some other platform like Sun or Google? Is the lowest-cost approach also the one that will give me the capabilities and flexibility I need?
Related Reading
| To upload an avatar photo, first complete your Disqus profile. | View the list of supported HTML tags you can use to style comments. | Please read our commenting policy. | |
|
|
T-Shirt Giveaway: Each week we're selecting one great comment from our readers. The author of the comment will receive an InformaitonWeek Community t-shirt. So get posting! |
Subscribe to RSSResource Links
Research & Reports
SMEs and the Cloud: How Much Is Too Much?
This exclusive downloadable research report examines how outsourcing certain IT functions to a service provider can pay off for small and midsize businesses, even more than for large enterprises. But go too far into the cloud, and you may suffer in terms of maintaining agility and responsiveness to market forces.
Secure Design on a Dime: Our Top 5 Best Practices for SMEs
This exclusive downloadable research report details the security tools that small shops need, at a minimum, to prepare for the increasingly complex security and compliance environment that exists today and the top 5 ways growing businesses can stretch their IT budgets.
Current SMB Issue
- 6 Steps To Modern Data Center Architecture: A phased data center upgrade makes technical and financial sense. Randy George suggests six steps to follow.
- Manage Your Managed Service Provider: Michael A. Davis discusses strategies for how the make your MSP work for you.
- And much more!
SMB Whitepapers
- Building a Business-Ready Mobile Infrastructure
- Shared Storage for SMB Server Bundles
- No Compromise, Cost Effective, VMware Storage for the SMB
- Three unique technologies provide users with a truly modern storage experience
- Rethinking Backup and Recovery: Disk vs. Tape
- Server Room Solutions: How small to midsize IT businesses can make their IT budgets appear larger than they are
- Top Three Microsoft Exchange Concerns and EMC Solutions



