ASP.NET and C# : is it any good???

Question

Hi all,

I'm fairly new to Visual Studio 2005 C# and .NET and have a query about its long term use.

I'm working on my own new piece of software and chose Visual Studio C# because I thought it was an excellent Windows platform language with good Windows Forms and because it offered a straightforward ability to connect to an Oracle database (via Oracle's ODP.NET).

The current idea is that I would use VS C# for proof of concept, locking the database and its API design down and thus if successful I could start again using some other web technology to connect to my database (like ASP, PHP or Java).

I've invested a bit of time into understanding VS C# but have now discovered that I could use the same C# language but under ASP.

Now I'm thinking that if ASP could support my project (which will require plenty of Windows Forms-like functionality like TreeView, Drag n' Drop etc) then maybe I should jump from Window-side to Web-side ASP programming.

Can anyone please share they thoughts on this? Is this advisable?

1. Will ASP support a highly interactive GUI connecting to a real-time, multiuser Oracle database?
2. Can you briefly list the potential pitfalls of ASP technology? Would, for example, optimistic versus pessimisic database locks or client/server failures feature in my considerations?
3. In what way is C# ASP limited?
4. What servers would I need to run? Could I run the Apache server instead?
5. Am I barking up the wrong tree completely? Should I opt for something different to ASP. And what would you recommend?
6. Are there any tools, websites or source code that you could point to me to facilitate in this development? Would Visual Web Developer Express 2008 be the way to go?

I would appreciate any feedback that you had.

Many thanks.