ASP or PHP?!

This is from someone who does not know either of the languages.

What is the difference between ASP and PHP? I know their two different languages but is there a speed difference? Why are there more PHP forums than ASP forums? It seems as if the PHP forums are generally more complex, with Web Wiz Forums being an exception. Why is this?

Questions from a newbie.

Well, PHP has its roots in the Open Source community and, at least here in Europe, php & linux hold an important market share (for instance, in my country 75% of web pages are php driven). More or less the same percentage goes for most of the european countries (Germany, Norway, Sweeden etc).

On the other hand ASP being a Microsoft product is seen as a "restricted area", reserved to corporations etc... So, the number of developpers for ASp is slightly lower than php.

Which is better, which is faster? I dont' think you can compare them in these terms. Both are fast, reliable and secure if proper used.

PHP is more scalable in the way that you can host php pages on IIS and you only loose some 10-15% (with a complex site). But ASP on the Apache server... Let's say only that this is not the happiest combination.

Well, I'm not so sure about the "expensivness" (sorry about this word, I'm not sure if it exists in English,, but I'm sure everybody understand what I mean). There is no "free" software if you call yourself a "pro". A professional version of Linux has a licence fee and it's not quite cheap! MySql also has licence fee a.s.o. Off course, you can develop your own Linux distribution. That would be indeed cost cutting in licence, but there will be a lot of additional costs that would make it not worth the effort.

"Would it be true to say that the MS way offers a lot more to us developers in the way of functionality, integration, ease of use, etc ???"

May be, or may be not. I'm myself a "Microsoft Solution Provider" (patent pending) so more familiar with MS products, but also living in a middle of php/linux developer world so I know few things about it. I'dd say that there is a better interoperability between MS solutions - originated from MS or elsewere - than Open Source's, and that could cause costly problems if you relay only on Open Source, but this could be just a personal impression.

remains the question: What is the difference between ASP and PHP?

ASP = Active Server Pages
PHP = Personal Home Pages

am i right?

ASP is much easier than PHP (may be my opinion).. but really PHP sucks