The SO guys seem to really love to hate on FOSS. I'll admit that the user interfaces for some desktop FOSS stuff are crap, but let's not forget that the server architecture is top notch.
How many programmers would be out there asking the kind of questions that show up on SO if it weren't for the ubiquity of the LAMP stack? I shudder to imagine a world where hitting the start button on your neat weekend project involves buying licenses for Vista, IIS, Visual Studio, MSSSQL, etc., etc., etc. "Now that I've dropped $20k on dev tools, I'm ready to get to work!"
Everything you mentioned but Vista is available in a free version precisely for things like the aforementioned weekend projects. And I don't think that it's any more fair (for 99% of users) to include buying an OS in "prerequisites for fun weekend project" than to include buying a computer in the first place.
countercounterpoint: They are available in a free version because Microsoft really wants you to build things for Windows. If they could give you the full versions for free without cutting off the air to the 3rd party tool vendors, they absolutely would:
I don't know if there's proof of whether they are available because of competitive pressures from the open source stack or from Oracle, IBM, etc., but I think we can all agree that competition is a good thing in general.
Still, my point is that while the open source stack is a smarter choice for many, many projects, between free versions of closed-source software and initiatives like Microsoft BizSpark, startup cost shouldn't really be the deciding factor.
I use the Microsoft Stack for my weekend projects, and it cost me a grand total of $375 to set up my development environment, including all the packages you mention and more. That's the cost to get in to the EmpowerISV program, which gives you a full MSDN license (meaning you get everything that Microsoft makes except games).
I spent way more than that on 3rd party tools to make my life easier. Hell, I spent more than that on coffee since I started the project. If you're an open source developer, and you value your time, you'll spend cash money on good tools too.
Cost is certainly not a reason to shy away from MS stuff (and it's good stuff).
> The SO guys seem to really love to hate on FOSS.
Care to source this? You can start on MS tools for basically free with BizSpark (which SO is a member of). Even if you only wanted to start a weekend project on MS stuff, you could get started with the free express versions (Windows excluded, but if you're going this route, you probably have that taken care of already). They also use FOSS like jQuery and the markdown editor they started with when appropriate.
If you want to talk about wasting money at the start of a project, how about considering the time required to learn a whole new stack?
Just to be clear, since there is some confusion: I have never worked, am not now working, and do not anticipate working, on StackOverflow. I do have access to the StackOverflow source code, since I work at Fog Creek, and, for the same reason, I have a bit of an a semi-inside perspective on what went into it. That, however, is it. Jeff and his team do their own thing quite independently of the rest of Fog Creek, and I definitely do not speak for them.
How many programmers would be out there asking the kind of questions that show up on SO if it weren't for the ubiquity of the LAMP stack? I shudder to imagine a world where hitting the start button on your neat weekend project involves buying licenses for Vista, IIS, Visual Studio, MSSSQL, etc., etc., etc. "Now that I've dropped $20k on dev tools, I'm ready to get to work!"