Don’t be religious about technology, you might miss something

Recently in a project I realized how bad it is, if gomeone in the team is religious about some piece of technology. Especially when discussing about things like .NET vs Java, ASP.NET vs ASP.NET MVC, Microsoft vs. Apple, Google Maps vs Bing Maps, Springframework.net vs Castle Windsor, Nhibernate vs EF, Siebel vs Micrsoft CRM, … religious feelings for some technology can be really damaging to your project.

If you have multiple choices you should really evaluate and have good reasons for your choice.

Criteria for an evaluation can be:

• Features that fit your needs
• Additional features
• Quality
• Know How
• Licensing costs
• Integration with existing code and frameworks

A criterion, that is not so good but often a fact in big companies, are company guidelines. They should harmonize development within a company, but often can hinder good choices and creativity.

For a developer the best thing you can do, is to keep up-to-date. Take a look at existing and upcoming technologies, so you can make quick and reasoned decisions. Take a look at technologies that rival your own choices, as they will have good ideas in them that you can use in your own implementations.