Also, about a year ago decided that ASP.NET was the best development platform for web apps out there – and frankly I still think it is. I’ve done some work in .NET and truly love it. But here’s my dilemma. Technically, I think ASP.NET is better than any of the other systems I’ve tried out including PHP and J2EE. However, it has one major flaw – its a Microsoft technology at this time. Sure, there is Mono which may prove to be useful in a couple years, but otherwise for cross-platform development the choices are PHP, WebObjects, and WiTango in my sphere of work.
Now over the last few months I’ve come to truly dislike where MS is taking their desktop and servers to the point where I have gone back to the Mac OS (also I was waiting for OS X to mature to a degree that it is usable as I refuse to use OS 8-9 like I’ve always refused to run Win 9x/ME – lets not go there).
Now I can still do my .NET work (what little I have since most of my work is now embedded C++ development) on the Mac – but truthfully, I am looking to migrate my servers over to the XServe over the next 6-9 months. Part of this is because one of the servers truly needs to be upgraded, and part is that I don’t want to deal with MS’s nickel and diming on servers plus many other issues I have with them on the server side. So I’m looking now with some foresight as to what I can run on OS X Server – PHP, WebObjects, and WiTango. Now I took a little poll of my customers and I got responses about all 3...great :) PHP and WebObjects come with the XServe, so that’s not a big deal.
But WiTango does not. Now I don’t feel like spending $2k for only a couple customers that absolutely refuse to move off WiTango to something else (the others said they would be happy to move to PHP or something else since WiTango hasn’t been updated in ages). But I wouldn’t mind so much if I began to use WiTango again for my own site. Then it becomes more palatable. But first, I need some questions answered (and I know some can’t be answered yet until its announced, but I’m hoping that over the next week all my questions can be answered). I can guess the answers to some of these questions, but at this point I need more concrete answers.
- What does v5 offer compared to ASP.NET and PHP?
- What is missing in the v5 OS X editor compared to Windows?
- What databases can v5 OS X connect to?
- How does v5 compare to v4 – is it an incremental update (in the sense of features – like Chimera was) or does it truly beef up Tango to match what one can do in ASP.NET and PHP?
- Why does WiTango still cost more than any other solution that’s comparable to it? And why is it worth it? (this question IMHO would be laughed at when the best was ASP or PHP2/3 or a 25k J2ee server, but now...)
- How commited is With Enterprises to supporting the Mac as a FIRST CLASS CITIZEN?
- What are the advantages of compiling WiTango into j2ee?
- Will the compiled WiTango work on the j2ee server that comes with OS X Server?
- Can one convert a .taf into a .jsp and edit it for more exacting programming?
- What do you think of the ASP.NET C# to j2ee converter that is out? Would this compare more favorably than WiTango?
I am just hoping to get some answers since its been so long since I’ve participated in the WiTango community. I’m trying to make a sound business and technical decision. Thanks in advance...
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Alex Kac, CEO/Developer
Innovation in Personal and Business Information Management
http://www.pocketinformant.com/
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