Thursday, September 01, 2005

Why are more developers moving from .NET to PHP?

  1. Developers - It's difficult to find .NET web developers. And those few tend to have specialized skills (e.g., backend, data access layer, etc). PHP developers tend to have a wider focus.
  2. Complexity and speed of development - .NET is a beast. .PHP is much better for punching out code quickly.
  3. Cost - PHP and MySQL are free. SQL Server, Windows Server, Visual Studio, MSDN, etc are quite expensive.
  4. Get in running/keep it running - I've never had PHP shut down on me. But IIS needs to be rebooted every few weeks.
  5. Security/viruses - no new news here.
  6. Platform independence - coders can use Windows, Mac, Linux, or whatever, enjoying their favorite editors and tools. Not so with .NET
  7. Community - Greater quantity and quality of help on the net, not to mention open source tools and code for free. Speeds up development.
  8. Browsers - Firefox is the future. Or at least "having a browser choice" is the future. Why be tied to IE?