[davismwfl]

I also have a long history of .NET back to when it came out, although not currently using it. .NET was a solid enterprise answer to Java and was "safe" since it was from Microsoft. Only in the past say ~7 years has .NET really come to the point where running it outside of the Windows environment was even an reasonable option for anything other than prototypes or side projects. And not until the last few years has it been something I'd even contemplate to use outside of the Windows eco-system on a production product. Personally, while I don't use Java anymore as a primary language, Java won the "write once, run anywhere" paradigm even though we all know that there is not such thing as a complex app that is truly write once run anywhere. I think one of the key differences is that Java focused on nix as first class citizen (never really worked as cleanly on Windows IMO), and Linux not having any licensing costs then won the hearts and minds of startups (rightfully IMO). nix in general to me is more robust than Windows as well, and makes solving scaling issues much easier. When you are worrying about server licenses and the such deploying something like micro-services (or any distributed system) can quickly become a costly endeavor. Not to mention the extra time spent in IT managing the infrastructure and licensing etc. Also remember that enterprise licenses of SQL Server and Windows server were charged based on number of CPU's etc (not sure if this is still true been a while). But I remember at one company one of our SQL Server boxes was well into the 6 figures just on licenses for OS and SQL.

There are startups that use .NET though, one that comes to mind that has been very successful is fanatics out of Jacksonville, FL. They went with SQL Server and .NET for their startup early on because there was tons of enterprise talent around and Microsoft was giving great incentives for startups to use their tech. I am not sure what they are on today, but I know they still advertise for Microsoft and .NET people a lot.

C# is a pretty damn awesome language and you can be super productive in it but not lose feel like you are hand tied. I am sure there are also those people that just shit on .NET/C# etc cause it is Microsoft, but honestly I'd use it if the opportunity was there and it made sense for the startup.

* edit - clarified a sentence.