Any suggestions for how I can kill the form sending bird and the on the way to writing forums bird with one ss language stone?
The latter is only an application of the former. Something complex like a forum may look a lot more daunting than a simple form submission, but the same principles apply.
I've written a form supported by ASP but it meant switching my hosting to a windows server. Isn't Linux faster and more realiable?
The debates over this go for days My personal response, having tried both, is to say, yes, definitely. There's a thread on Linux vs. Windows hosting here on the forums. Have a search. Also, consider this article on The Register.
What's ASP.NET? Isn't this also MS?
Originally, yes, but they released (at least some of it) as an open standard, which is now maintained by ISO, I believe. Based on this, the Mono project was started, and now provides fairly good support for .NET applications on other platforms.
I'm suprised to see someone who signs off their posts with reasons not to use Microsoft recommending this.
Correction: the statistics in my signature are a reason not to use Internet Explorer (6, vs. Firefox 1. I should really update the links). I do also object to Microsoft as a company on the basis of their business ethics, but their products generally have enough technical flaws that I don't have to bring this into an argument