Just read “Where are all the cool startups that run on ASP.NET?”, he asked:

But what puzzles me is that not too many people use ASP.NET to create cool products. Sure there are Community Server, MySpace, DotNetKicks and DasBlog; there are all very fine products, but compare them to LAMP, Rails and Java lineup: Digg, Yahoo, LinkedIn, Flickr, Backpack and the Company, Delicious, all the Google Apps, Mint, Meebo, Twitter, Zillow and of course Infinite Cat Project. If you checkout the new startups on TechCrunch, it seems like every new startup is something Linux based and is not ASP.NET.

And I really want to know why. If you are a new startup, you have only one shot at it, so you really want to use the best tools available. And it seems like everybody picks anything but ASP.NET, unless you are doing corporate development.

Why are there so few startups that use ASP.NET? Is it the cost of tools? Hosting cost? Restrictive licensing? Or maybe ASP.NET became “the van” of web development. Safe, bulky and definitely not sexy.

ASP.NET is a great web development platform, it’s much more advanced than Java, PHP stuff, ASP.NET’s performance is better than Java and PHP (in same hardware environment, as I tested) , ASP.NET MVC just learned many good stuff from Ruby On Rails, and it ofcoz have much much better performance than Ruby on Rails, and now develop in ASP.NET is as easy as (or rather say easier than) Ruby On Rails.

There are some comments which looks even more interesting. Some guys just say MS technology is not as good as blah, blah, blah, or performance is not good blah, blah, blah…, I just ignore those, because that’s not true — Some people may not really use and compare  Microsoft technology  carefully and jump to a conclusion. I am familiar with PHP(since 1998) , Java EE (since 2000)  and Ruby On Rails (since 2005), and use those technology developed web sites that served millions of register users, when I just into ASP.NET this year, I am impressed with its design, featured and yes — performance. The new release MVC CTP is a preview version, but it bring new light in the near future.

Some view points in the comments sounds make sense:

• Cost, Money

Cost for development and deployment. Web Developer Express is a toy in comparison to Netbeans, Zend Studio, Eclipse (with PHP Development Tools, RadRails, Java Development Tools, Python extension… ) PHP Eclispe….

• Be afraid of locked in Microsoft only solutions

If you pick Microsoft as a platform, that’s it. You will be most likely be running a Windows server, using MS tools, and running an MS database. Not only is the cost prohibitive, but the way Microsoft locks developers in is a big turnoff. Why select Microsoft when I can use Ruby, Java, PHP, etc. and run my applications on any platform and database. The flexibility provided by open sources is a big plus.

• Startup Locked on the very first technology they selected (because of cost, not willing to be locked on MS solution, …)

Start-ups do not start with oodles of money. Two or three merry code jocks can afford to buy copies of Visual Studio. They are reluctant, however, to pay through their noses for hosting. You need Win2k3 and Iis6. Microsoft’s licenses are insanely complex and expensive compared to Linux and Apache. By the time venture capitalists step in, it’s too late. You have a full-blown application, and you don’t feel like re-writing it.

• Lack of good, cheap Hosting providers for Microsoft solutions

(Bringing my applications onto Amazon EC2 is a snap - try this with a .Net application)

• Because VC dislike MS solution

I still think that them Venture Capital giants just weren’t sold on Microsoft and so the money (even though it required more of it) went to other technologies.

     Maybe and maybe not. PageFlakes is using ASP.NET, it get fund without problem. I don’t think a VC will consider a startup by questioning using Microsoft technology. 

    The problem is, using Microsoft technology may looks like not “as cool as” open source LAMP solutions.

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Skype was down some days ago, now it’s back, but what their excuse really sucks:

The disruption was triggered by a massive restart of our users’ computers across the globe within a very short timeframe as they re-booted after receiving a routine set of patches through Windows Update.

It’s because Windows update?! Skype’s P2P network stability relays on Microsoft Windows Update?! What an excuse !!!

Here is what they explained more technically:

The high number of restarts affected Skype’s network resources. This caused a flood of log-in requests, which, combined with the lack of peer-to-peer network resources, prompted a chain reaction that had a critical impact.

Well, it’s reasonable, however it still means Skype have a weak design in stability and redundency which is really critical for a telecommunication carrier. Even though, unfortunately, they are still feeling so  "proud"…

We are very proud that over the four years of its operation, Skype has provided a technically resilient communications tool to millions of people worldwide.

Well, this world have plenty of choices, this is not 3 years ago…now GIPS codec are widely used by most of VoIP softwares, and there is no secret about how to make AEC better and "so called P2P voip" network. Maybe GizmoProject is a better choice:

Gizmo is a Free Phone for Your Computer

That makes calling as easy as instant messaging

Gizmo Project is an internet telephone, that is as simple as instant messaging

Make all of your calls from the comfort of your desktop, with Gizmo Project it is point, click, talk. For FREE

Why use Gizmo?

• It’s FREE!
• FREE call’s to any Gizmo Project, Yahoo! Messenger, Google Talk, or Windows Live user
• Chat with AIM and MSN buddies
• Free Voicemail and Conference calling.
• Super clear call quality
• Inexpensive add-ons that let you make and receive calls from any mobile phone or landline

Popularity: 34% [?]

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I just read a blog post “How to bring Internet freedom to China” from Patrick Fitzsimmons, he suggest  to host the web server on the domain of a critical business site, so China goverment will not block those web site:

 The solution is to host the web server on the domain of a critical business site. A huge number of Chinese businesses run off of Microsoft services. When I spent time in China, most of the people I met used Microsoft Hotmail for their email - work and personal. Block Hotmail and the government cripples tens of millions of people going about their daily business. Other business critical web sites include American corporate sites, such as Microsoft Update, Google, PayPal, and Chase Manhattan Bank. The government cannot ban those services without suffering severe economic repercussions.

An of Congress should require that all major US companies doing business with China host proxy servers on their domains. A person in China would simply go to https://www.hotmail.com/FreeInternet/ and be able to access the entire web without restriction. By using the secure “https” protocol, the “FreeInternet” part of the address would be encrypted. Thus the Chinese government would have absolutely no way of detecting whether the user was using the free internet or sending a business email. Chinese citizens would be completely free to write blogs, read foreign news, and engage in political discourse all with complete security and anonymity.

Even without an act of Congress, we in free countries can create these proxy services by convincing the right organizations to host the servers on their domains. Domains such as apache.org or mozilla.org would be very difficult for China to block without doing severe damage to their software industry. We could build a movement to host proxy servers on these types of domains.

Firstly, as a Chinese who deep sufered by the Great Fire Wall (GFW), I should say thanks to Patrick, thank him gave a solution to bring Internet freedom  to China.

However,  unfortunately, this idea totally can’t work, even if the US goverment can push company to provide such proxy, or a great amount of company willing to do so, it still helpless:

• Greate Fire Wall can easily block partial web site based on the URL pattern. That’s to say even all popular web site implement a “/proxy/…” service for us, those part could be easily wiped off by our Great Fire Wall.
•  ”Block Hotmail and the government cripples tens of millions of people going about their daily business”, yes, but will our GFW care a shit?! NO, they don’t care. They blocked Google, the blocked Sourceforge, they blocked FreeBSD, they blocked Wikipedia, … Any thing which threaten the interests of GFW will be blocked, no matter how many people may be affected. Unfortunately, that’s the situation in China.
• Will those “big” company be so kind to provide such proxy? No, I don’t think so.  Actually, I never expect them to be this good, I only wish they could not sell us to the government…but unfortunately they did, just no too long ago, Yahoo provided  personal email content to our government and eventually become a evident to put someone in prison! Even google surrened, they run a selfcensored version google  “google.cn” in China.
• How about apache.org, mozilla.org ? No, please not, even they willing to so, I believe many Chinese people wish NOT!  because all we know that only make us lost apache and mozilla in the future forever! At least now we can still access them easily.

Internet freedom is not a technical problem, so technical solution may not so easy to help.

At last, I should still say thanks to Patrick, let’s pray that some day in the future, free Internet access will not just a dream anymore.

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Skype didn’t work any more since yesterday, and till now it still not work! Does anyone also experience this problem?

Something interest is, though I was not able to login the skype, I was still able to setup the call transfer configuration successfully! I just open up the configure window and fill the new transfer number, submit, it show a never ending wait prompt…but actually it worked! Some one called my skypein number it did transferred to the number.

Just found this, seemed I am not alone…

Problems with Skype login

By Joosep on August 16, 2007.

UPDATED 14:02 GMT: Some of you may be having problems logging into Skype. Our engineering team has determined that it’s a software issue. We expect this to be resolved within 12 to 24 hours. Meanwhile, you can simply leave your Skype client running and as soon as the issue is resolved, you will be logged in. We apologize for the inconvenience.

Additionally, downloads of Skype have been temporarily disabled. We will make downloads available again as quickly as possible.

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