Earlier quoted context omitted.
I have more faith in open-source community to fix warts vs. closed-source Microsoft. I did ASP.NET back when it launched, and Microsoft wasn't setup to really listen to developers like the Meteor team is.
Actually, Microsoft did listen to their ASP.NET developer userbase. And ASP.NET developers loved them for it. And yet, despite Microsoft listening to their users, we're still not enchanted with ASP.NET... what gives? Lets say a framework's user base consists primarily of language-specific consultancy shops that really desire tools for rapidly prototyping applications. And the framework authors listen to these users d…
You can't use the silence of developers like me to prove a point when any pro asp.net content posted here is met with hostility.
ASP.net has an "easy mode". Easy mode is for small sites made quickly. If you're dragging and dropping, you're using easy mode. If you're only using the server controls provided, you're using easy mode. If you haven't extended or replaced any of the provided subsystems, you're using easy mode. I'd prefer developers from other platforms stop making comparisons between their platform and easy mode asp.net as if they knew what they were talking about.
ASP.net is a tuner's platform. It is completely modular, and anything you don't like can be replaced with something custom suited for your business/performance needs. This goes much deeper than custom server controls. You can look at the development of ASP.net MVC as an example.
If you want an easy framework to master, ASP.net is not the place for you. If you want something fast, scalable, strongly typed, customizable and built for large applications; you should have a look under the hood.
Those who haven't spent time getting intimately familiar with ASP.net's innards really have no place to comment.