.Net has been going right track and can really scale pretty fast, like in Stackoverflow. If you are going to go with
.Net Application Development, use MVC. It is awesome framework and you will find yourself writing less code, i.e. less bugs. Since ASP.Net MVC is influenced by Ruby, you could possibly switch to the frameworks without much effort, after you dazed the syntax differences of course.
.Net technology stacks for startups
1. ASP.Net MVC is a good framework to learn as it allows you to implicitly learn the Java Play and Ruby framework. You should decide based on the language that you feel most comfortable with. It’s the speediest way to acquire new frameworks and get something working out in a great way. As long as you choose aearnest framework you will be adequate. Make sure you stick to the conventions of the framework that will support you in keeping your code clean. If you go with .Net Application Development, make sure you check out fluent NHibernate.
2. .Net is very cool and easy to work with. As a need aside you get all of the goodness of the Microsoft domain security model for free. The platform also inter operates seamlessly with other stacks and is very productive and scalable.
3. It is not appropriate to argue about which stack is good. If Facebook is using PHP/MySQL that does not mean it is good for your startup. Pick something you know well and also if you are going to hire staff, make sure the skill set is out there.
4. Technology stack depends on what you would want to implement. But if there is any of heavy data driven / focused app, it would be much easier to write up the app on Python or Ruby. The front end user experience can still be served with any framework like .Net. The best for MVP is doing it in what you can write code and if you can’t then get a tech co-founder or learn how to code.
5. You need to choose a platform that can easily adapt to change. .Net has a few great tools that help you change rapidly. An example is the .Net entity framework which provides excellent re-usability and provides migration paths when changing your data models. By coupling this with MVC, you may have a very easily adaptable platform.
6. .Net may be the only way out for Microsoft. The alternative new and a more future friendly tech stack for a startup would be Node.js, which has gained strong support from Microsoft, at the same time Microsoft will shift away from .Net and emphasis rather on C++ for compiled code.
7. .Net choice of technology stack is a good idea at this time. Looking at the stack, you can have database, SQL Server, Oracle, MySQL, NoSQL, LINQ and Entity Framework, Middle tier, Web Fronted, mobile-web services and hosting. You can get all of this for free via BizSpark if you are a legit startup.
It really depends on what you are comfortable with. While you may be able to save upfront using an open source framework you could spend a lot of time learning the subtle differences which could slow down your speed to market and in the end cost you more than you saved.
ASP.Net is the grand new framework that is deeply prejudiced by Rails and is the platform of excellence for most startups.
