mikejuk writes "The recent unsettling behavior at Microsoft concerning .NET makes it a good time to re-evaluate what the technology is all about. It may have been good technology but with the systems guys building Windows preferring to stick with C++ the outcome was inevitable. Because they failed to support its way of doing things .NET has always been a second class Windows citizen unable to make direct use of the Windows APIs — especially the latest. .NET started out as Microsoft's best challenge to Java but now you have to ask what has the excursion into managed code brought the Microsoft programmer and indeed what good has it done Microsoft? From where we are now it begins to look very much like an unnecessary forced detour and Windows programmers are going to be living with the mess for years to come." Read more of this story at Slashdot. </img> </img>