>Hi y'all,
>
>I'm thinking of building a web app and am a bit uncertain as to what path to follow with this as there are several options available (aspx, silverlight, wpf, etc.).
>
>It's not a complicated app and I thought at first to write it as a stand-alone app, but I want to follow the "software as a service" model (aka leased apps) and users are apprehensive of paying a monthly fee for something they download and install in their computers, whereas online, this seems to be the norm (scheduling apps, CRM, etc.), not to mention that maintenance and support would be far easier for me if I go this route than to have to deal with at least 3 different operating systems and other problems users might come up with.
>
>Please keep in mind that I know nothing about the new technologies yet - today's the day I'm about to start learning this stuff (Want to become an expert fast? Get in way over your head.).
>
>At first I thought that silverlight might be a good possibility, but I wonder if I'm not alienating my potential market, who is not terribly computer-savvy and likely to have 2-year old computers on average, so this is what I'm up against... decide the platform, what version of visual studio to use is also a consideration (2005? 2008? 2010 is out of the question - can't deal with my own problems on top of a beta).
>
>OK, I know these questions are about to open a can of worms, but I'll be very thankful for all your input on this!
>
>Thanks!
>
>Alex

I see no advantage to using VS2005 over VS2008. All my apps got upgraded to VS2008 as soon as it was released and was easy and clean with benefits. VS2003 to VS2005 was not so clean. Start today with VS2008 and worry about VS2010 later when you are comfortable.

There is nothing wrong with using ASP.Net as your platform and adding whatever silverlight you want later. That certainly depends on what type of application you are talking about, but the app does not need to be exclusive to ASP or Silverlight. For this type of application, I don't know that I would consider WPF at this point except for learning and getting it in your toolkit of knowledge. WPF will be more and more important to learn as time goes on. Don't wait but build the online project with ASP.Net.
Just my opinions however.
Tim