PHP VS .Net

[vj5]

PHP or .Net? Which is good in the longer run? I have background in ASP and now learning .Net. Should I switch to PHP or still be current with ASP and .NET? Thanks in advance for any response on this topic.

[aspnetguy]

I use .Net primary at work and use PHP on freelance contracts. In the long run I think what is most important is which you are most confortable with and is there enough work in that area to keep you employed.I like both languages for diffrent reasons.I like .Net because...- I can compile it to hide source code for code I distribute- Compiling makes it faster- I can reuse many libraries I write on both web and desktop apps- Visual Studio (2005 or newer, 2003 is the pits) is amazing- easily interop with Office products- user controls make code reuse a breeze- They finally are coming out with a MVC (Ruby on Rails style) framework in .Net 3.5 SP1 (eary or mid 2008)- C# is a pretty language, IMOI like PHP because...- It is easy to write (even better with the OOP upgrades in 5.x)- For small to meduim projects it is very fast- easier to deploy projects without making a lot of server configurations- http://www.php.net is, IMO, the best documentation/reference site I have ever used- it runs on any platform- great MySQL integration- No nasty .Net __VIEWSTATE bloated code- No session oddities like ASP and .Net (fault of IIS)okay enough rambling. I don't think I could really choose one or the other but if I was forced to and I had to foot the deployment bill I would choose LAMP/PHP because I don't have 5-10 grand to setup up a Windows Server/SQL Server/Visual Studio environment.On the side I think JavaScript is my favorite language to right. Even though I rarely ever touch it, I still love writing ASP with JScript. So my suggestion stay current with at least .Net and ASP if you want or there is demand for it in your area (ASP is becoming less and less used) and if you can mange to squeeze in PHP it would only be another great tool in your toolbox.I have learned many languages out of interest or necessity to broaden the range of contracts I can pick up.