Resale value of developing in something other than PHP

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the great wall

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I'm a software engineer with over 9 years of experience working with various companies .. soooo needless to say, I've gained quite a bit of programming experience during that time. I'm about to build some web applications, get them started with interest and traffic and then sell them.

So I have a question:

Which language should I choose for resale value ?

Most of my experience is using enterprise java -- but if I were to use java, or python, or rails, or PHP .. which one would would give my site the highest resale value?

I understand that PHP is the most widely used scripting language -- and in the short term I may be able to produce apps more rapidly, but I can write cleaner, more flexible code using a framework like Spring and SpringMVC for Java, Django, or Ruby on Rails ..

So, in general, should I just say screw it and develop using PHP since more people are familiar with it, or go with a more powerful framework ? Would it hurt my ability to sell an application if it were custom coded in something other than PHP?

Thanks for any advice and looking forward to your responses!
 


I think that would depend on the complexity and price range you intend to sell it for. If you're trying to sell the site for a couple grand or more, at that price point I don't think the buyer would be too concerned with the supporting technology. On the other hand, if you're selling the site for mid-$xxx or less, the buyer would most likely be a noob and wouldn't know how to host it anywhere else other than some cheap hosting at HostGator or whatever.

So to answer your question directly: At lower price points, PHP would be helpful. As it gets more expensive, I think the technology would be less important to the sale.
 
Programming language is irrelevant to the 'resale price' of your site... Price of your site is determined on revenue or revenue potential, period.

That said, I would avoid Ruby or Python if you're going to try and sell to an "Enterprise" buyer who are most likely a J2EE or .NET shop. Anyone can work with php.
 
These days most shared hosts support rails and more and more of them are supporting django. I'm a big fan of django for quick development.
 
I think language has a lot to do with potential customer base more than resale value. If you want a larger pool of possible buyers, stick to the common languages like PHP. Though more and more I see people being okay with RoR.
 
micker said:
These days most shared hosts support rails and more and more of them are supporting django. I'm a big fan of django for quick development.
Click to expand...
yeah, I'm loving Django ! Haven't seen a django site go bye in the sitepoint marketplace yet, though ..
 
I think as long as the site is coded in a relatively common language, you're fine. But you'll hurt yourself if you code it in something "weird" - it'll at least make potential buyers think twice, since they'll presumably need to support it, possibly find a server to run it on, etc.
 
If you're building a business rather than something you plan on flipping for a few thousand dollars, use whatever technology you want. We use a lot of different languages and technology. We even use some obscure languages simply because I like them. Potential acquirers don't care too much about technology if you've created something of value. There are also cases where they'll just rewrite your tech after acquisition. Use what you like and don't look back.
 
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