building a directory

any drawbacks from choosing .net

[topr8]

ok, well i'm about to embark on a whole new project, the backbone of which is building a directory, i'm going to do this either from scratch or by buying an off the shelf app i can hack up to my requirements ...

this because nothing on the market quite suits what i want and i have a few custom requirements, mostly around seoing the directory.

now i've posted in this forum specially as i'm not concerned about the mechanics of link building or finding links...

my concern is the underlying technology. my asp is strong enough and i'm thinking of using this project to make the jump to .net.

it's a given that microsoft technologies will be available for the project in terms of scalability. eg sqlserver and the latesat versions of .net etc.

but are there any drawbacks from using .net rather than perl or php, the question really comes from looking at off the shelf solutions in places like hotscripts where perl or php offering heavily outweigh asp or .net offerings... is this because they are better or simply because more people post them!

i'm at the brainstorming stage any input of any type most welcome.

[duckhunter]

I found that dabbling bits and pieces in .NET in the beginning was not cutting it. To really learn .NET you need to dig in and take some time to try things more than one way and complete a few different projects before the Framework starts flowing for you.

That being said, if this project has time constraints, .NET is probably not the best idea. Over time, you learn several different ways to accomplish the same thing. Sometimes, it's too late to implement your "new" preferred method into your site.

Accept that your first .NET project is going to take some time to get it right. Good design concepts implemented in .NET will provide a scalable application and room for growth down the road.