j4mes - 10:43 am on Jul 7, 2005 (gmt 0)

I'm not too happy w/ bcentral IIS .NET and I'm going to move to a different web host.

Hurrah! I strongly recommend Apache on GNU/Linux (or a BSD OS). You won't regret a move!

Could you give me your recomemdations on the type of host to look for with options/features/differences? I've seen linux, apache, IIS, etc.

Personally I'd look out for: Linux OS, Apache, PHP, MySQL, Perl, access via FTP or SSH, some sort of nice web interface (e.g. cPanel, there are lots) so you can have pretty stats for your sites :-) (Awstats, etc.)

I would like to plan for the future as much as possible. I will be adding a directory in the near future, and I understand that even dynamically created pages are possible.

Then you definitely will want PHP and SQL (MySQL/PostreSQL/etc.) for dynamic pages.

I've read that there is something called apache mod that changes the unfriendly parameter style db urls to friendly urls.

This is called apache mod_rewrite, and there are several experts on it hanging around the apache forum.

I would prefer a host that can run asp/aspx/php/dynamic databases/ and then the apache url changes on DB's. Is all this possible within a single host?

Linux et al OS's cannot do asp because it is a proprietry Microsoft language, and IMHO sucks in comparison to PHP/Perl/MySQL/etc. But using a Linux + apache host will give you everything else you are looking for if you find the right host (most web hosts will do these things).

I'm ready to break out of my msft playpen, but being a bit "new" I would appreciate a little advise on finding a host type I would be happy with.

Congrats, you've come to the right place. No doubt there will be a dozen more opinions posted here within a few days, but those are my two cents.

All the best,

J.