I have been sleuthing and gumshoeing in hopes to find some answers. I need 

to know how stable both ASP.Net and Windows XP are.



I have found that ASP.Net is only available for Windows 2000 and XP 

systems, but since I have heard that Windows Millenium was very buggy, I am 

wary about upgrading to XP. 



I am currently running Windows 98 SE.



I am very new to ASP, so please correct me if I am wrong, but is(was) there 

a free d/load available from Microsoft for the ASP engine/components?



I have tried to locate the d/load for Microsoft's Windows NT 4.0 Option 

Pack and have been unsuccessful. I learned from www.learnASP.net that the 

Pack has the ASP files I need to run ASP on Windows 98.



However, since Microsoft no longer supports Windows NT, the Option Pack is 

no longer available either.



I want to build a database driven web site. It's one of those things that 

may or may not take off. And the site is for fun, like for a club ... to 

give club members access to data. I am concerned about learning outdated 

ASP techniques, so what do I do? What aspects of classical ASP should I 

pursue and which should I omit? How reliable is ASP.Net in comparison? Do I 

even need to worry over it since the database will be small at first. But I 

am torn between what was ASP and what will become ASP.Net after the beta 

testing is completed. I want to do it right the first time though, so where 

do I begin?



If I need to go with just ASP, does anyone know where I can get the Windows 

NT 4.0 Option Pack? If I need to go with ASP.Net, is there any possible way 

of running ASP.Net beta on a Windows 98 system? Like a work around? And, if 

not, what is the operational difference between ASP and ASP.Net? I have 

tried to find an answer to this one on the various sites like www.asp.net, 

www.microsoft.com, www.learnASP.net, and haven't found out.



Well, I hope that I didn't ask too much. I'd love to hear some feedback.

I found the Option Pack here:



http://www.microsoft.com/ntserver/nts/downloads/recommended/NT4OptPk/defaul

t.asp?FinishURL=%2Fdownloads%2Frelease%2Easp%3FReleaseID%3D28609%26area%

3Dsearch%26ordinal%3D2%26redirect%3Dno



I don't know if that will paste correctly, but if you go to 

www.microsoft.com and go to the download center, you can search 

for "option pack" and you'll find it.



IMHO, you can't go wrong either way.  At some point though you will almost 

certainly have to migrate to .Net.  I have many reservations about it, but 

that's my personal opinion, based mostly on my feeling that ASP isn't 

broken, so it doesn't need fixing.  I also have a lot of "unlearning" to 

do in order to use .Net, and I'm not looking forward to it!  :)  If you 

don't have a lot of VB behind you then the transition shouldn't be too bad.



Considering how long .Net has been in beta, it should be fairly stable 

when it's finally released.  Now of course there will be holes, then 

patches, then patches to fix the patches, typical MS BS.  While this is 

really annoying it's the way Microsoft wants to to business, so you might 

as well get used to it.



Having said that, I personally love traditional ASP!  I know .Net is 

capable of more, but to me it's the difference between a Mercedes and a 

Rolls-Royce.  I also believe in the idea of NOT always following standard 

MS techniques and trying new and different things, something that will be 

extremely hard with .Net because of the tools MS uses.  (e.g. I never 

wrote COM components for ASP apps - never needed it and never missed it)



You'll get a different opinion from each person you ask as far as ASP vs. 

ASP.Net, and like I said, you can't go wrong either way.  I don't think 

there's any rush to get into .Net right away, it will certainly change in 

final release and will be here forever after.  You can also pick up ASP 

books in the bargain bins, and you'll get a lot of exposure to some older 

programming techniques that work well, but not in .Net.