Contrast that to your scenario. First, I need Windows, which is fine for most, but not me. Then, my prod setup has to be Microsoft based. I've yet to find a $5/month IIS-based host with SQL Server (apathetically, I haven't looked much). Oh, and Visual Studio. I can probably get by with Express, but at some point I expect I'll find a wall that forces an upgrade.
Microsoft has come a long way, but when I started years ago, I couldn't swing a Microsoft-based environment. VS was prohibitively expensive, and my parents' crappy computer couldn't run it. But I could learn PHP for free, run it locally through XAMPP, and be off to the races. Microsoft's never won me back, and your CMS is paying that price.