Let’s set the stage for this post. It is late May, 2009. The .com bubble has come and gone. The promise of Java driving the Internet never really materialized. It’s out there, but in its own little niche area. But there are two major players in the server-side web market: Microsoft’s ASP.NET and PHP.

I’m a Windows developer. I jump on the Microsoft bandwagon for almost everything and herald their technologies, because that’s where I’ve chosen to throw my alliances. Then one day Microsoft goes out and does something strange. IIS has been the main host for ASP.NET since ASP.NET was introduced. Everything else was supported to some extent, but not as fully as ASP.NET. Then Microsoft releases Windows Vista and Windows Server 2008 with IIS 7 in all of it’s shining glory. (Pause for dramatic effect.) But on the same day that they release Windows Server 2008, what do they also release for IIS 7 in both Windows Server 2008 and Windows Vista? Microsoft released an upgrade with this shiny little technology called FastCGI. And why is FastCGI important? Because Microsoft has been working with the PHP community to develop this little technology that will result in far superior performance for the PHP platform than has been achievable in the past. Fast forward a few months and what else do we see? Microsoft’s new jewel on the horizon, Windows Azure, the Microsoft cloud computing initiative, adds support for PHP in Microsoft’s cloud!!! What does this mean to the Microsoft ASP.NET world? More...