For starting from scratch now to learn the system and build all new courses, it seems to me that one should start with 2.0.
I have started work at mdl2.com and things are going pretty well.
In taking a quick look at sandboxes set up with previous versions versus the new version, my preference is for the new version.
My concern is where I will go to put the courses into production. Many of the moodle hosting sites state they are months away from being able to move to 2.0.
I have so much course preparation work to do that I would like to avoid having to figure out a complete install myself as I come from .net and IIS (which is what I have installed on my developement machines.)
Has anyone suggestions for good hosting sites that have 2.0 ready now, or will have it ready shortly?
I was on shared servers for years with a little less than moderate success, but a little over a year ago I went to a managed VPS at http://knownhost.com at $34.00 monthly. (They have no affiliate program, so I earn nothing for making this recommendation.)
The environment at Knownhost wasn't exactly up to Moodle2 requirements, but I contacted them, and through two or three rounds of emails with support, Moodle2 is now ready to install. I posted a few questions here in the "Installation Problems" Forum at http://moodle.org/mod/forum/discuss.php?d=164219 which also shows the current status.
When I consider the problems I had trying to communicate with inept support at shared hosting servers, I am so happy to finally have found an excellent company with excellent support.
Remember that a lot of 3rd party modules and plugins will not yet work on 2.0 (I think only 10 or 20 do out of >600), so your ability to extend may be limited to start with.
Worth using 1.9 to check out what's available, then keep an eye out for when a 2.0 version appears.
Re: Shouldn't a brand new user start with 2.0? Where?
> For starting from scratch now to learn the system and build all new courses, it seems to me that one should start with 2.0.
>
> I have started work at mdl2.com and things are going pretty well.
>
> In taking a quick look at sandboxes set up with previous versions versus the new version, my preference is for the new version.
As for the general questions here is some sound advice http://moodle.org/mod/forum/discuss.php?d=164844&parent=722548
> My concern is where I will go to put the courses into production. Many of the moodle hosting sites state they are months away from being able to move to 2.0.
In my view the statistical average of V2.0 hosting over V1.9 won't going to help you as you need only one hosting. Still, if it is a consolation, the current run for V2.0 hat an influence of that proportion.
> I have so much course preparation work to do that I would like to avoid having to figure out a complete install myself as I come from .net and IIS (which is what I have installed on my developement machines.)
Wellcome to the world of GPL!
> Has anyone suggestions for good hosting sites that have 2.0 ready now, or will have it ready shortly?
Sorry I can't help you there since I have the luxury of dedicated servers, on Linux BTW.
HTH