In my new gig, I'm working with ASP.NET for the first time. (I know, I'm late to the party...) I get why they've done what they've done. They wanted to separate client- and server-side code. They wanted to make things easier on the programmer. But frankly, what they've created is a kludgy, archaic mess. I dabbled in ASP.NET a few years back. I even bought and read a bunch of books on it. But what I found was that Microsoft created an environment that improved the programmer's life while it reduced the user's experience. Not that programmers care much about what users have to endure in interface, but it sure matters in the training/work-around costs later to the business. So while I have a measure of respect for .NET, which I think would be an incredible tool for writing Windows software, it pretty much blows for writing web sites. (And for what it's worth - it ain't me. I'm already 4 weeks ahead of my deadline for this first maintenance project, so this isn't me speaking out of the frustration of ineptitude or panic. Just telling it like it is...) | 
