My startup is Microsoft-based, here's why
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Re: My startup is Microsoft-based, here's why
#2The guy behind PlentyOfFish (the dating site) has written similar things in the past. Various links and tech info: http://highscalability.com/plentyoffish-architecture
It seems a lot of MS stuff, used properly, scale well and easily, making it particularly suitable for single founders or small teams where they don't want to devote a lot of time to ops (while still keeping it in-house).
Becoming a member of their "BizSpark" program literally provides you with all the software free of charge. Entering BizSpark is easy and costs nothing.
If you can get in, of course, which is far from certain. My company seemed to fit the criteria well a couple of years ago but was rejected without explanation. Of course, now we are profitable enough to afford any software we want but have stuck to open source as, well.. that's what we built our stack on instead ;-)
Re: My startup is Microsoft-based, here's why
#3Stack overflow was another great example of hi load project on .net
Re: My startup is Microsoft-based, here's why
#4How much of this is old-school admin practices vs. the new "cloud" philosophy of spinning up lots of boxes that you don't care about? I don't see a Microsoft vs. Open-source argument for alot of this stuff.
Many of the devs I see working with "cool kids" tools don't know anything about operating IT environments, yet they are playing admin. They're spinning up dozens of single-purpose VMs, sometimes to perform trivial tasks.
The motivation is often to reduce the need to have dedicated admins ($$$) and change process (time). But... managing dozens of VMs ain't free either!
Re: My startup is Microsoft-based, here's why
#5One server? Not much redundancy in that setup. It's no wonder your costs are so low.
Re: My startup is Microsoft-based, here's why
#6The guy behind PlentyOfFish (the dating site) has written similar things in the past. Various links and tech info: http://highscalability.com/plentyoffish-architecture It seems a lot of MS stuff, used properly, scale well and easily , making it particularly suitable for single founders or small teams where they don't want to devote a lot of time to ops (while still keeping it in-house). Becoming a member of their "Bi…
I got into it with my game company but once you graduate, then you need to start paying up. Maybe it only cost him a couple hundred bucks a month now but once he needs to pay for the licenses then that's when he can judge if it's really worth it. Until then, he's just getting stuff for free and saying how great it is.
Re: My startup is Microsoft-based, here's why
#7BizSpark is kind of awesome for startups. Even if you're not "Microsoft-based" you can still take advantage of their free software (Windows, Office etc.) which otherwise will cost you a small fortune.
Re: My startup is Microsoft-based, here's why
#8I'd consider Windows more readily, but you are a bit screwed if you do decide you want to dip in the Open Source pool. You can dip there, but it's harder and less well supported, and some things simply don't work. So you are tying yourself to Windows, and often, Microsoft tools. Fine if you're sure it'll work, but I would feel like I was gambling.
Re: My startup is Microsoft-based, here's why
#9>"But most importantly, because the customer doesn't give a darn. My clients don't care what I'm based on as long as it works. So when choosing a platform for your great idea - just go with whatever platform you're comfortable with and start hacking, stop wasting time."
This is really the best advise. What you actually use is less important than you being comfortable with using it (assuming it is not something totally bonkers). The customers want results, they don't care if you wrote it in Ruby or .net. They won't know the difference anyway.
Re: My startup is Microsoft-based, here's why
#10While Microsoft might be a good solution for many people (Use what get the job done), this specific article has absolutely no real reasons why you _should_ use Microsoft. The truth is if One 8-gig windows server is what he needed for his start up he could get by with one 8-gig Linux server and save a couple of bucks a month. While that might not be a big deal now, if he ever wants to get big, those little costs start to add up.
Also while its great Microsoft is subsidising his starup via the Biz Stark program, we have seen many times what happens when you rely on "free" to run your buisness. Even tually he will need to start paying for those software licenses he is getting for free and by then he might not have a choice in what platform he is using.