Sometime, when we discuss with customers and partners, there are delicate topics that the one we are in conversation with seems doesn't want to go in too much details. It’s seems to me that in his mind, there’s still di idea that “yeah, MS technologies has growth a lot, but… you may not be as ‘mission critical’ as…”. And that’s the moment I prefer most to start a good discussion about these arguments :)

Even if every position is respectful, i usually prefer to start from raw and fresh data, to clean the unspoken doubts, and the new study conducted by IDC about Mission Critical Applications across North American and European customers is really a good place to start. You can find more here more details:

http://www.microsoft.com/net/CaseStudies/MissionCriticalApps/Default.aspx

There is also an “hidden gem” inside Microsoft web publications that not everyone knows. A couple of years ago, some colleagues published an interesting sample application called .NET Stock Traders (http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/netframework/bb499684.aspx) together with a comparative study between .NET and Java application platforms, and also regarding several database engine.

Other than use it as an interesting study application, you’ll find some very detailed information about not only performance comparison, but about the overall application lifecycle process, from architecture to cost.

If you haven’t, i think it’s a worth reading…

Enjoy!

Silvano