best value platforms RAD web development.

[AJSouthall]

Been out of development for about 18 months, previously v.exp 14 years in software development industry. I'm looking to set up business offering e-commerce and web application development services to SME's (small and medium sized enterprises).

Need opinions on best value application development platforms for RAD type development.

Reseach shows that its between

o PHP and mysql on linux
o ASP and .Net on and MS-SQl or MYSQL on windows 2003
o Coldfusion

I will need hosting looking to max at $100 (£60)pcm obviously prefer a lot lower. Also looking to choose developer software that supports this presumably.

Macromedia Studio + coldfusion server.
Microsoft Visual Studio.Net (?)

willing to spend up to $5000 on this max.

Have also researched PHP and there seems to be a lot of freeware about is this similar for the other two options. Appreciate your feedback.

Andy

[Kodo]

the .NET environment currently includes the most powerful fully compiled web langauge to date (in my opinion). I haven't developed anything commercial with it yet as I've just gotten my feet wet. It's a bit of a curve from ASP which is my base. If you're going to start off again, then I'd say go ASP.NET. you can get visual C#.NET or VB.NET from MS at 109.00 USD each.

the entire VS.NET package is several thousand dollars.