
Microsoft WebsiteSpark - andrewdavey
http://www.websitespark.com/
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fname
That's great and all, but if you decide to keep the Microsoft platform as your
business grows, there's no direct upgrade path from their web editions.

Format and reload with Standard/Enterprise.

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thismat
For web development, why do you need more? What are the limitations?

Also, have you run into this before? I would imagine they would offer straight
upgrades or "unlocking" of the web editions to upgrade, is this not the case?

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fname
I won't argue that it's perfect for Web Development. However, from the offer,
it seems to point at having the free software host (in production) your
website. If your business grows where you need additional products or services
that expand beyond this offer, you must upgrade if you decide to stick within
the Microsoft framework.

There is no "unlock" functionality to go from Web Edition to anything else --
you must format and reload. It's one of the features to help upsell customers
to purchase Standard/Enterprise from the beginning.

~~~
thismat
Ah, that kind of stinks about the unlocking function not being there.

Only thing I can think of is that if your business is growing so you need
upgrades, at least your business is growing? haha. I can definitely see why
this could be a potential bottle neck, but for freelancers and side-businesses
it probably won't be as much of an issue.

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steverb
In case someone pops in without looking at the site, it's basically a way for
small web design companies to get the MS Platform for free.

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reedlaw
What exactly is the MS Platform? Is this web hosting using Windows Servers, or
free software to develop websites?

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steverb
From the program guide:

Technology offering: The WebsiteSpark technology offering for participating
Web professional companies currently includes:

\- For design, development, testing and demonstration of new websites--for a
total of up to three users per Web design and development company:

* Visual Studio Professional

* Expression Studio 2 or 3 (1 user) and Expression Web 2 or 3 (up to 2 users)

* Windows Web Server 2008 or R2 (when available)

* SQL Server 2008 Web Edition

\- For production use: that is, to deploy and host new websites developed
using Program software - using a total of up to four processors per Web design
and development company, of the following (physical or virtual) dedicated
servers:

* Windows Web Server 2008 R2 (when available)

* SQL Server 2008 Web Edition

Deployments may be on 4 servers or VMs of 1processor each, on 2 servers or VMs
of 2 processors each, or on 1 server or VM of 4-processors.

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joubert
I wonder what SQL Server _Web Edition_ is and how it is different from regular
SQL Server - is it non-relational?

And how is Windows _Web Server_ different from regular Windows Server - can't
you install Apache or IIS on _any_ Windows?

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thismat
To my knowledge the "web" editions (used them before, briefly) are just
trimmed down fluff removed copies. They're built specifically for serving web
content and don't have quite as many services and features installed as you
would expect from a server meant to be say, an AD domain.

I may be slightly off here, but this was my understanding of it.

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rick888
the bizspark program is much better.

Rather than getting just free web software, you get pretty much all microsoft
software for free for 3 years.

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thismat
The bizspark program is definitely nice, but for people like me who do
freelance work for other people on the side it's not a viable solution, I
recall a limited number of years in business, and something along the lines of
being a startup, not a freelancer.

This however might make it possible for me to venture out into new territory,
easier.

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billybob
I know another great suite of tools you can get for free. It's commonly known
as LAMP.

Or Ruby/Rails, or Python/Django...

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thismat
I use Ruby/Rails, LAMP, haven't tried Django yet but I already have a project
planned out for it.

In my limited experience, I find nothing is quite as nice as VS for a
development environment. I enjoy the other frameworks just as much, but there
is a huge gap in usability and ease of starting between the two.

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unalone
Why is it that every other company on the planet can name things without them
sounding lame and corporate? Microsoft has this bizarre design deficiency that
I've never heard properly explained. Good design is not as hard as they make
it seem.

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viggity
I think BizSpark (for product businesses) and DreamSpark (for students), are
both great names. WebsiteSpark sounds lame, I think WebSpark would be a much
better name, but I'd guess someone is already operating under that name

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unalone
_Spark sounds too Orwellian for my tastes, I guess. Like, Spark is such a
weird-sounding addon descriptor that I automatically assume it's being
attached to something low-quality.

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thenduks
Way too little. Way too late. I fail to see how this could be of interest to
anyone, certainly not to anyone not already on the Microsoft stack.

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thismat
Because the .NET framework actually is a nice development environment?
Especially with MVC?

I'm interested in it, as I am forced to use VB @ work (no, I don't like VB,
I'd much rather use C# on the .NET platform, and I do when I do personal dev
with .NET) and honestly, I have yet to find a development environment quite as
nice as what VS offers.

I think it offers a great way for developers who work as cogs to enhance their
sidebusiness and cut their costs, I do a lot of work on multiple platforms,
but I've considered signing up and pushing some clients towards .NET because
it's a rich development environment and now actually cheap enough to do small
sites with on the side.

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thenduks
You fall into the category of people already on the Microsoft stack then,
don't you?

I got the impression from this whole thing (and Microsoft's recent behavior in
general) is that they're trying to entice the non-Microsoft people over to
their stack... And I (personally) think this is a weak offering, especially
considering how happy I am with my current workflow and tools.

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thismat
Depends, what qualifies me as being on the Microsoft stack? My day job deals
with .NET to COBOL/JCL, my free time I spend with Rails and supporting other
peoples poorly written php(grr...), on OSX, not in Windows....so I don't think
I'm already on the stack, I use it for my day job because it's the standard I
have to follow (no one I know willing chooses vb.net over C# :().

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thenduks
Fair enough, then. In that case you are exactly the kind of person I'm
suggesting wouldn't be swayed. Are you going to switch to Windows just for
this? Are you going to drop Rails because Microsoft has decided to grace us
with a non-prohibitively-priced copy of their tools? For me, the answer is a
massive 'no'. I could be wrong about you, of course :)

~~~
thismat
haha, it's not so black and white for me. I can't swear loyalty to any one
platform because I'm too curious not to try them all. I LOVE working in .NET,
it has taught me a lot, I don't want to switch away from it....on the same
note I LOVE working with Rails, it's a pleasure, pretty, 'feels good writing'
framework, that has also, taught me a lot.

I'm the same with with operating systems, I like using them all (now that I
have Windows 7 that is), so I have a desktop PC for Win7+VS+Gaming, my macbook
for LAMP style development and my Linode VPS for handling my own *nix server
and bash/shell/testing/personal hosting...I just can't switch to one platform
when they all have a different purpose..right tool for the job kind of thing.

Really, I just like to mix it up, I don't want to get locked into any one
platform, but if a job pops up that the client wants .NET, why not do it with
free professional level software?

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thenduks
Everything you say makes sense to me.

...Except that last part. If a job pops up and a client wants .NET, I would
strongly encourage them against it. Why? Well like you said, you don't want to
be locked in. Why would you be ok with locking in the client? If that client's
site gets bigger and they need another box or what-have-you -- oops, that's
another X thousand dollars for another license, etc. That sort of thing would
not be ok with me.

Of course, I'm not a freelancer, so maybe my take on client-is-always-right
will vary wildly from yours :)

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thismat
No I agree, I would prefer not to work in .NET for my personal development
honestly, but I do know that like my shop, some corporations or small
businesses are already locked into the Microsoft stack, and won't consider
something like Rails or Django for their production applications.

Obviously these are normally for more business oriented, intranet style
applications, not normally public sites, so scaling is a little different and
normally they will have their own server licenses already.

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RyanMcGreal
"Learn More" loads a PDF. Yech.

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ilyak
I thought it's a microsoft service to park domains.

