Hi, I am a MD, involved in a very large medical project that requieres a strong database plataform, the project must be .NET , the estimated transactional movement is about 40 on line users accesing a DB with a 200 relational tables. The policy is to program this SW in three layer design, our first oprion is ASP.NET and SQL Server 2000, because is worldwide spread. I had investigated PHP and MySQL, and I wonder if you can give me a imparcial advise if I must continue with ASP.NET or if PHP is a reasonable alternative.
Thanks.
It's hard for me to be unbiased when it comes to MS vs. Open Source, but I'll give it a shot. :) The major problem I have with anything MS is security (yes, yes, I know there are security issues in the Open Source community too). Applications running on a MS system have pretty much admin access to the system, so even if the app you're using is secure, the very nature of the OS makes it a risk. However, if you know your system, you can secure the known problems, so in the end I think it all boils down to what feature set you're looking for.
MSSQL vs. MySQL
MySQL is faster and has a smaller footprint than MSSQL, and until recently wasn't as near feature rich as MSSQL. However MySQL now supports many of the features of the large 'Enterprise level' RDMS. Not all of them, but many of them, so if one of the features you're looking for isn't supported by MySQL, that should make the decision easier (or at least bump you up to PostgreSQL vs. MSSQL).
PHP vs. .NET
I'm not familiar with everything .NET can do, but I have yet to see .NET accomplish anything that I can't do in PHP. Again, this boils down to features. Another deciding factor could be the learning curve. If you've never used a language like PHP before, and are familiar with writing code for MS apps, it may be best to stick with what you know if you're on a deadline. Even if you've never written code before, .NET may be easier to pick up in the short run due to the 'click-n-point' tools. But learning something like PHP will benifit you in the long run; learning how to write code from scratch gives you the ability to understand what the code is doing, thus giving you a leg-up when it's time to troubleshoot.
MS vs. Open Source
Again, this comes down to what you're looking for, and what you feel comfortable with. With Open Source you don't have the 'security blanket' of a large corporation for support (but from what I hear, you still don't have support with MS), but the online and community support for Open Source are second to none. Small budget? Steer clear of MS.
In the end, only you can answer what's best for you. What do I want? What do I need? By answering these two questions, you will be able to choose the solution that fits you best.
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