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Aren't all three bad choices? - Windows: proprietary, hard(ish?) to scale. BizSpark. - Linux: Finicky, spend time & money getting it working right. Scales wel

Aren't all three bad choices? - Windows: proprietary, hard(ish?) to scale. BizSpark. - Linux: Finicky, spend time & money getting it working right. Scales well. - Apple: Expensive. Nice. I'm not a startup guy, but I can easily picture a world in which Apple is chosen by the massively-funded, Linux is chosen by the scaling-is-our-business-model, and Windows is chosen by the get-off-the-ground-first lean (curiously enough) thanks to BizSpark. FWIW my terminal is Windows, and my datacenter is *nix.

markovbling 12y ago
there's a Starcraft analogy in there somewhere
tracker1 12y ago
Windows isn't particularly more difficult to scale than Linux. A lot of tooling that you would use to scale in Linux is also available in Windows. The cost of such scaling either horizontally or vertically is another issue altogether. I actually like a lot of things when it comes to windows, and dislike a lot with Linux. That said, I'm still targeting Linux for next-generation app development... When you need to have 3-5 servers for your data and application layers, the price of MS's stack is a bigger difference here. It really depends on your situation though.. if you have a need for small LOB apps, or even a SaaS that can work in Azure deployments, using BizSpark and sticking to MS isn't a bad option. Apple may be used by the developers, but depending on your business need, you really aren't deploying to apple servers.
rbanffy 12y ago
> - Linux: Finicky, spend time & money getting it working right.... Not if you know what you are doing. I find it easier, cheaper and faster to deploy Linux applications than it is to boot a Windows server, apply updates, secure it and install your application (and keep it updated). I know it can all be done - and automated to a large extent - with Microsoft admin tools, but it still takes longer than spinning up a new Debian, Ubuntu or CentOS server and doing the same steps. The ecosystem is just not there. And since you don't need to worry about licensing costs, you can deploy as many machines as you need and make them role-specific, lighter and individually simpler. > - Apple: Expensive. Nice. Expensive is relative. My previous MacBook was still solid after five years. No Lenovo/Dell/HP has that kind of build quality at a lower price and the ones that have that build are uglier and more expensive than their Apple counterparts. I agree if you need a fingerprint or smartcard reader, you can't go with Apple, but those are specific needs. Spreading the cost of a Mac over its useful life makes it look more attractive than a PC. Plus, it has a very developer-friendly OS if you are not developing for Windows. Also, Apple makes desktop machines. My comment was mostly about BizSpark's server side.

markovbling 12y ago

there's a Starcraft analogy in there somewhere

tracker1 12y ago

Windows isn't particularly more difficult to scale than Linux. A lot of tooling that you would use to scale in Linux is also available in Windows. The cost of such scaling either horizontally or vertically is another issue altogether. I actually like a lot of things when it comes to windows, and dislike a lot with Linux. That said, I'm still targeting Linux for next-generation app development... When you need to have 3-5 servers for your data and application layers, the price of MS's stack is a bigger difference here. It really depends on your situation though.. if you have a need for small LOB apps, or even a SaaS that can work in Azure deployments, using BizSpark and sticking to MS isn't a bad option. Apple may be used by the developers, but depending on your business need, you really aren't deploying to apple servers.

rbanffy 12y ago

> - Linux: Finicky, spend time & money getting it working right.... Not if you know what you are doing. I find it easier, cheaper and faster to deploy Linux applications than it is to boot a Windows server, apply updates, secure it and install your application (and keep it updated). I know it can all be done - and automated to a large extent - with Microsoft admin tools, but it still takes longer than spinning up a new Debian, Ubuntu or CentOS server and doing the same steps. The ecosystem is just not there. And since you don't need to worry about licensing costs, you can deploy as many machines as you need and make them role-specific, lighter and individually simpler. > - Apple: Expensive. Nice. Expensive is relative. My previous MacBook was still solid after five years. No Lenovo/Dell/HP has that kind of build quality at a lower price and the ones that have that build are uglier and more expensive than their Apple counterparts. I agree if you need a fingerprint or smartcard reader, you can't go with Apple, but those are specific needs. Spreading the cost of a Mac over its useful life makes it look more attractive than a PC. Plus, it has a very developer-friendly OS if you are not developing for Windows. Also, Apple makes desktop machines. My comment was mostly about BizSpark's server side.