It is a common myth among inspirers of silicon valley that LAMP(Linux Apache MySQL & PHP) is the only recommended set of technologies that can not bankrupt you if you are starting a web 2.0 business. And using a paid technology for a startup can limit you to go beyond. Obviously it is not true. The paid technologies have their own market that isn’t loosing its hotness. The very need for a business solution when you have investment and other setup is rapid productivity and scalability! and there is no compromise for that as market is moving so fast. .NET is designed for high productivity and ease of scalability that saves cost by getting things done earlier.

To explain this we need real-time examples. I have found a very interesting case study by Earth Class Mail.

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By using .NET technologies, Earth Class Mail Saved $750,000 and Six Months on Development. Earth Class Mail originally chose a Linux-based solution thinking that it was a lower cost, the company’s current solution, based on Microsoft software, is the real cost-saver, according to Isaac:


“We were comparing Windows to Linux on the basis of licensing, but once you’re big enough to have employees, licensing costs are negligible,” he says. “Development and maintenance are the real cost issues—and that’s where Microsoft saves us a tremendous amount of money over Linux.”

Beyond the one-time development savings, Isaac sees continuing maintenance savings by choosing Microsoft over Linux.

“Because the Microsoft platform is so much easier to maintain, we’re definitely seeing continuing cost savings over Linux,”

he says:

“We can manage servers remotely more easily with Windows Server and .NET, often eliminating the need to send technicians out into the field that we’d have with Linux. We don’t have to go in and hack around complex Apache configuration files; [Windows Server] Internet Information Services enables us to make adjustments with simple reconfigurations. And maintenance that otherwise would have required a senior—and expensive—person now can be managed by almost anyone in the department. Most maintenance is just ‘click and go.’”

In 2004, Earth Class Mail came to market with what it calls the world’s only Internet-powered postal mail service. To meet customer demand, the company needed flexible software that could support its growth—all the way to the massive scale of the worldwide postal industry—and that would be cost-effective, to help conserve start-up capital. The company’s original Linux, Apache, MySQL, and PHP (“LAMP”) solution didn’t meet these goals, so it adopted a solution based on Microsoft® software. Earth Class Mail cut time-to-market in half, saving U.S.$750,000 on development costs. Total cost of ownership is lower for the Windows Server® operating system than for Linux, as well, due to continuing savings in maintenance, scalability, and extensibility. Earth Class Mail also finds that Microsoft software makes it easier to create managed-code solutions for form factors such as handheld devices.

Earth Class Mail wanted a solution that would scale to support years’ worth of business growth. That’s what it has with the solution based on the Microsoft environment. Where its original Linux-based solution couldn’t support more than 1,000 customers, the most basic configuration of the Microsoft-based solution has supported more than 25,000 users. And, unlike the previous solution, the Microsoft solution can be easily and cost-effectively scaled out—not just up—as needed, to support additional customers.

This is a very good example to explain the difference between free technology and paid technology. Although there are many scenarios where LAMP is real cost saver but this is not true all the time. If you wish to read the full case study, you can read it here .

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