The Dilemma

I am facing a dilemma that many of you would have already faced or will face in the near future. I was planning to get into Web Development completely and had a nice idea for a simple web app. But as I am a beginner I am unaware of the various frameworks/languages/techniques/design patterns using which a robust web application can be made.

My good friend Darshan Santani sent a presentation which compared various options. PHP/Ruby on Rails/Java using Struts/JSF, ASP.NET etc. Each option had its pros and cons and at the end, the presenter had made a very simple conclusion:"The option with which you are at ease is the most suitable."

Having done my final sem project on VB, I am very much used to Visual Studio as an IDE. Though I have explored NetBeans and Eclipse, the ease I find in using Visual Studio is not there. You could say that I am a prisoner of Microsoft Software which has handicapped me in using only Microsoft software. With Microsoft coming out with Express editions of its tools and other software being used by developers like Visual Studio and SQL Server Express editions which are available for free, rookies like me who are used to the Microsoft way of software development can now use the these express editions at no cost. It is as good as Open Source IDE's for Java like Eclipse or NetBeans. So now that I have the express editions to pursue my interests why should I opt for Java? The answer lies in the fact that whatever Microsoft is providing you is only just sufficient for you to learn stuff.

But if you want to do some serious stuff then you will have to shell out a pocketful to get the appropriate software from Microsoft. Impressive strategy I must say! So though I am not into anything really serious at this moment, If I build my competency in .NET then I would have to probably shellout $1000 for just a Windows Server Operating System. Compare that with Ubuntu Server Edition which is FREE and probably is much more secure. But learning Java at this stage means to invest the one resource I am short of - TIME!!

So you are aware of the dilemma now! Any suggestions will be helpful as to what I should do- but at the moment it looks like .NET to me.