Here goes...

In general ASP.NET requires a lot more basic knowledge than using classic ASP and there are a lot of basic low level ASP.NET things that need to be set up correctly for many ASP.NET applications run correctly. People that work with ASP.NET need to be familiar with basic ASP.NET concepts such as IIS application settings, versions of the .NET framework, the aspnet_client folder, ASPNET account permissions, and the basics of the web.config file.  If you are using ASP.NET for whatever reason you really need to know about these things. If you are buying ASP.NET Code Behind source code you definetely need to have a good undertstanding of working with Code Behind ASP.NET and being able to compile the code after making changes. If your hosting somewhere you really need a good hosting company who understands your ASP.NET hosting needs and offers decent support. I find that most of them do not which just make things worse. It also doesn't help that some people tend to go with the cheapest hosting company they can can get their hands on because the old saying still holds true. "you get what you pay for".

If you are one of the ASP.NET challenged let me say this.
Stick with Classic ASP. ASP.NET is a step in the wrong direction for the average user which I like to refer to as "Joe Coder". Classic ASP is very powerful and easy to pick up. ASP.NET is not easy to pick up and never will be for a lot of people. In my opinion it’s actually the wrong technology to use for anyone other than big corporations who need extreme scalability in their applications or for the hobbyist or object oriented programmer who just wants to use the latest and greatest.  Ask yourself if you really want to deal with compiling Code Behind code each time you make changes to your web site as opposed to just editing some files in notepad real quick like you can do with classic ASP ? Do you have the money to purchase and use Visual Studio.NET or are you going to struggle with compiling all your ASP.NET pages using a command line compiler and a batch file ? Yes, you can build ASP.NET code that isn't code behind but why even bother if that is the case because your missing the point of ASP.NET if you do that and missing out on a lot of powerful new features and concepts.

When I do custom projects for bigger clients I usually end up using ASP.NET because they want to go that way and understand the time and money involved. When I do any of my own projects I use Classic ASP because the truth is you can still make some rockin busy scalable web sites with Classic ASP just like you can still make great web sites with CGI, PP, Cold Fusion.. etc etc. Look around the web because a lot of the biggest sites out there still use those scripting technologies and their stuff runs very well. ASP.NET is a lot of hype and although some things about it are plain awesome it is an environment best suited for real object oriented programmers, not the weekend code warriors.

The other thing to keep in mind about classic ASP is the shear abundance of applications and scripts available for it. ASP.NET can be expensive for that reason alone as there still is a shortage of good time tested applications out there and what is out there is always priced a lot higher.

You may ask "but is classic ASP going to be around 5 years from now?" Though you never really know until the new version of windows server ships I say "Hell Yes" it will be. According to my sources at Port80 Software who work very closely with the folks at Microsoft (as well as many other sources out there) it will almost certainly be in Longhorn which is the next version of Windows Server. Longhorn probably won't come out until 2007 and will be popular for 3-4 years after that. The version of windows server after that will most likely support Classic ASP as well and if it doesn't I am sure there will be a way to make ASP run on it.  If you really look around a lot of hosting companies are still running Windows Server 2000 which is 5 years old at the moment. The bottom line is Classic ASP helped put Microsoft web technologies on the map. Microsoft can not simply drop it because if they do they give up a dominate market share to the scripting competition being PHP, CGI, Cold Fusion.. etc etc PHP for instance a huge installed base on many platforms which are essentially free. ASP.NET can not compete with that in any way and not supporting Classic ASP would put microsoft in a bad position.

Take it from me. If you are a weekend code warrior/script kiddie. You'll be a lot happier sticking with classic ASP. You will also have save a lot of money and you can still have a great web site. There are tons of great applications out there in ASP and ASP still is and always will be the easiest scripting language to work with and learn. Better yet look around on sites like www.4guysfromrolla.com and see if you actually understand any of the latest articles. If it looks like Greek to you that is yet another sign that you should stick to classic ASP.

Personally, I will be focusing just as much time and effort on ASP.NET as I will on Classic ASP in the years to come for a few reasons.

Chris Willians
http://www.cjwsoft.com/about.asp