I should note here that part of the problem here may be that I’m not a web guy, so my views may be biased because I just don’t think about the space much.

Asking me why I prefer Java over C# is like asking me why I prefer wine over beer: it’s something I can articulate; I’ve thought about the issues, played with the code, etc.

Asking me why I prefer Apache is like asking me why I prefer air: there may be alternatives, but I’ve never given them even the slightest bit of thought, so I couldn’t really articulate why air might be better. So saying Apache was ‘best of breed’ is probably not what I should have said- it’s more like (at least in my mind) Apache is so entrenched that I couldn’t even tell you anymore why it is entrenched- it Just Is.

(I should note that I think this is rare. I’d have tons of discussion fodder for Linux, or Wordpress, or GNOME, or languages, or editors… just about any other software I use. Apache is unusual, so maybe it is just me.)

In any case, as a user of both Apache and IIS I’ve shared my thoughts about Apache vs. IIS7 which you may be interested in reading here: http://blogs.iis.net/bills/archive/2007/05/07/iis-vs-apache.aspx

Now, I admit I have a slightly harder time explaining why this might be the case- why I intuitively singled out IIS in the way I did. I think IIS’s problem is that it seems that it is wisely understood that Apache is pretty much best of breed. I’ve never heard any Apache user say ‘I wish I was using IIS.’ This is fairly unique- even in open source, people say ‘I wish I had LINQ to solve this problem’ or ‘the MS IDEs are really slick.’ And even if the firefox people are disdainful of IE, they at least acknowledge that IE is important. So talking with the LINQ folks, or the IDE people, or the C# people, was interesting. Not to say that there wasn’t a gap there, but the gap was radically smaller than it was for IIS, and hence there was radically more useful communication to be had.

But maybe that’s just me- you should definitely talk to others who were there as well, and possibly you did find it interesting and useful- in which case, I’m glad to be wrong, and I hope you enjoyed it enough to do it again :)

Peter: yes, definitely great to meet you. You’re the second person to make the Presentation Zen comment, but it gives me only mixed comfort. In my world (bazaar-land) every developer - not just the evangelists - is expected to be able to communicate. This is certainly not true (the slides at the average free software conference are abysmal too) but it’s at least something almost everyone aspires to. This not only helps outreach, but it helps the product too- if everyone at some point communicates to users directly, you end up with a much more realistic understanding of needs and use than if all communications are moderated through layers of sales guys, evangelists, and product managers.