I have a fair bit of experience with ASP (vbscript), it is not hard to learn, but it is hard to find somewhere that offers cheep hosting. It works well with SQL server but can be a bit buggy interacting with access.

As with anything else it is what you make of it in terms of coding style, so don't think of one as being harder to read than the other. Two of the most useful resources are the SQL books online and vbscript microsoft help files. don't think I can post them as I expect they are copyright.

As Juridian mentions the ado objects are usefull, if you have access to exchange mail server you can link that in also (webmail anyone?). Setting up the objects is not complicated and you should not let it put you off.

For developement you have IIS with most of the windows distribs, but make sure you restrict/block access from the internet to the machine you run it on or you can look foward to spending all of your spare time patching the damn thing.

Having said all that, I am keen on learning PHP when I have the time. The Apache/ MySQL combo is a highly tempting prospect.

Good luck with which ever,

WaveRebel