So is this thread dead?
Seems like it. theymos hasn't provided any feedback in months, as far as I can tell.
You will regret hand writing a forum when a proven one exists for years.
I did it once, than the particular programmer who did it, got very upset with me.
I don't think anyone (who is experienced) has seriously suggested doing this. It's not feasible to write a complete product from scratch within the current budget, and it wouldn't make sense to do so for this project even if the budget was higher.