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Ask HN: Why aren't more startups using .NET?

8 points by mafiaa ↗ HN
Wanted to learn/try something new with my next start-up venture and decided to use .NET for my backend and it has been amazing so far.

Very low learning curve, easy to separate functionality rather than relying on some mega AIO Next.js app, easy integration with cloud providers such as Azure, and it's already widely used in the industry (valuable experience to have).

So why aren't start-ups using it more often? It seems like the perfect framework to build with in almost every capacity (unless you really dislike Microsoft).

14 comments

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runningmike
Technology choice is by far the least important choice. A business is seldom about technology, but the value for customers. Other factors count more, but your question leaves all important factors out. So the consultant answer is: it depends….
nacozarina
its an ms thing and how much does one want to be at the mercy of an ms roadmap
porcoda
Anti-MS sentiment is common in some corners of the tech world. People ignore the fact that the CLI and C# are ECMA standards like JavaScript and C++, and treat them like closed proprietary systems. .NET is a great choice and there are tons of people who happily use it.
smt88
A) It used to suck

B) It's not that popular for frontend, which is a very important concern for most early startups

C) Microsoft was historically only used because it was Microsoft, not because it was the best choice

It's mostly a Microsoft brand problem that they rightfully earned by being bullies producing over-complex, stagnant corporate IT trash.

mrsmrtss
>It used to suck

When and what were the better alternatives back then? Being stuck to Windows sucked, I agree, but the tech was always solid.

> Microsoft was historically only used because it was Microsoft, not because it was the best choice

MS dev tools have always definitely been the top choice.

>It's mostly a Microsoft brand problem that they rightfully earned by being bullies producing over-complex, stagnant corporate IT trash.

Are Meta, Oracle or even Google today really any better brands?

kgwxd
I love it. Been using it professionally since the beginning. I owe my entire career to it.

This year, I've switched to Go for all projects moving forward, and will never recommend anyone ever touch anything MS has any part in.

mrsmrtss
>recommend anyone ever touch anything MS has any part in.

Curious, why?

kgwxd
I can't play Minecraft, Bedrock or Java, on Windows 11 without signing into the MS Store. A game I've paid for several times, for several people. A game that ran perfectly fine without the store before I was forced to switch to Windows 11. A game that runs on other devices and OSes without the MS store. That was the last straw, and I don't even play it that much.
mrsmrtss
Yeah, I agree that Windows sucks, but I would not abandon .NET for this reason. .NET is solid and is only getting better. There is no reason to believe that Google, Oracle, or any other big greedy company is any better than Microsoft. I moved to Linux years ago and am very happy with the move. Developing .NET in Linux has been a very smooth experience, and I don't miss Windows at all. Also, gaming is a lot better in Linux than it used to be.
slingexe
Windows sucks, embrace Arch
jcz_nz
Historically it was targeted at already captive clients building on Windows, so there was no incentive to innovate or break eggs. This persisted just long enough for the industry to evolve (web & Linux) and create much better solutions, making MS’s dev tools largely irrelevant. Today, seeing .net in a shop is a red flag for me at least (choosing .net for Web work, to clarify)
mrsmrtss
> Today, seeing .net in a shop is a red flag for me at least (choosing .net for Web work, to clarify)

For me, it's a huge red flag when people have opinions on stuff they know nothing about.

aregsar
Startups need to move fast to quickly validate their assumptions. Full stack batteries included frameworks like rails, Laravel and Django are much better suited for this with integrated background jobs, mailers, authentication and authorization, caching, queuing, notifications, active record style ORMs and broadcasting systems all baked in and designed to work together not to mention a common project structure for all apps and built in unit, feature and integration testing infrastructure. Add to that a huge ecosystem of packages designed to integrate with the framework and a large community.

I personally use Laravel for my side projects and but have been a long time asp.net user at work where working with multiple teams on large projects is more of a concern.