I think there are plenty of valid reasons to avoid MS technology that don't boil down to "because I want to be like these guys." If you base your infrastructur

I think there are plenty of valid reasons to avoid MS technology that don't boil down to "because I want to be like these guys." If you base your infrastructure around Microsoft technology, you're essentially stuck in MSland. Of course, since you're using .NET, you must also have Windows servers and IIS. If you need persistent storage, MS says to use MS SQL Server. You could use other things, but then you're going outside the lines. OTOH, if you build using free tools, you can change as needs demand. Apache httpd suddenly a little too heavyweight for your needs? Switch to nginx! MySQL working okay but you need geospatial queries, for instance? Migrate to PostgreSQL. Or how about the ability to run Redis natively, or access to a POSIX environment that literally every other major operating system supports? If technology isn't playing a role in your technology decisions, you're doing it wrong.