Italian enthusiasts of Linux, PHP, and Open Source are very familiar with the site that has a quirky name but a thousand resources, ZioBudda.net (http://www.ziobudda.net).
ZioBudda.net was born as a Web domain on Christmas Eve 1999 when the creator was still working at Enter s.p.a. Actually, the site was created several years ago as a static Web page kindly hosted within the same company Enter s.p.a. (it is not a project of Enter s.p.a.) Today, as then, ZioBudda.net is totally managed by Michel Morelli, even if it has now become a true reference site thanks to the richness of content and the continuous presence of daily updated news. Over the past year, the portal’s page views have almost tripled. The creator, Michel Morelli (32 years old, Milanese of southern origins), has been working as an IT consultant for some time and currently manages, among others, the transition of the Sutti law firm towards the OpenSource world and the Knomos management system.What is PHP? PHP is the “fastest” and easiest “method” to create dynamic pages under Linux, using the worldwide Apache Web server. Logically, PHP is a Web programming language. Why would you recommend using PHP? The Web world is now dynamic. Some years ago, dynamic sites were seen as chimeras and represented a minimum percentage of existing sites. Now all this has reversed and the dynamism of Web sites is probably the hardest hurdle for many Webmasters. I recommend PHP for its speed and simplicity in the field of dynamic Web. Also under MS-Windows environment.What are the advantages of PHP compared to ASP? One in particular: having the source code to be able to improve it. ASP is a closed-source language and for any improvement you have to wait for the next release from MS. With PHP, I can freely improve its performance, add functionalities, and make my work available to other users who in turn can improve and redistribute it.What does PHP lack that you envy in ASP? Nothing. Honestly, I envy nothing of ASP.Which is the better combination: ASP + Windows or PHP + Linux? I am biased and this is known. I would never move my Web site under MS mainly because of the many security bugs that afflict MS’s dedicated WEB product: IIS. I am an old-fashioned person: my works must be safe. And honestly, if my Web sites were under IIS I would not sleep well.Is SQL or MySQL better? And why? I assume you mean MS-SQL. Well, obviously MySQL because it is functional, fast, stable, and above all costs nothing thanks to its GPL license.Is it better to use Italian Hosting (housing) or USA Hosting (housing)? Until early 2005, I would have answered this question with a blunt “If for small works then USA, otherwise ITALY, but only for money reasons.” Now things have changed radically and hosting your sites abroad is not so convenient anymore. Just look at the offers from Unbit.it and TopHost.it to realize it. Excellent quality at the lowest cost. And then you no longer have to struggle with the different time zone.Are there more Web resources for ASP or PHP? ASP spread faster than PHP because it is distributed with IIS. So the resources dedicated to ASP are more than those dedicated to PHP. But the situation is radically changing.What do you think of .NET? I don’t think much. Or rather, I don’t know what’s behind it and so I can’t judge a product I don’t know. I hope it is not the usual greatness mania from MS.What is the best Italian ASP community? I think ASPitalia.com, but only because I know it by name. As I told you, I don’t know ASP and what is around it.What is the best Italian PHP community? In Italy, at this moment, there isn’t yet a reference Web site for PHP, but soon phpcommunity.it will be born, which will attempt to be what ZioBudda.net is for Linux here in Italy: the Italian reference point. In fact, if someone wants to participate… To return to the question, currently the largest community I know is the PHP-IT mailing list hosted on my server. The members are about 800 and range from simple novice users to Webmasters of established sites in the Italian Web.Do you think what you have said so far is convincing to recommend the use of PHP or do you want to add anything? Well. As the old wise men said, before judging you have to test. At this point I can only recommend everyone to try the PHP scripting language and then decide if it is what they were looking for or not. I don’t want to force anyone to try it, unlike a well-known software house, because there is no need: once you try PHP, you fall in love with it.
Pubblicato in Digital Tools
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