I've been questioning the use of ASP.Net for web apps ever since I started using Rails around a year ago. As I've become more proficient with Rails on some recent (sideline) projects, I can't imagine using ASP.Net for any project that I want to get personally invested in. It just doesn't make sense.
ASP.Net is a fine platform if you're interested in a drag-and-drop RAD interface. You know, the type of programming that VB became famous for. But if you're interested in being a better programmer (or using the hot tools that are part of that ALT.Net group), you need more than ASP.Net can supply out of the box.
Sure, you can warp and twist ASP.Net to be more hip with the latest trends and tools that have been ported over from Java. You can insert MVP and you can wire up all of your webform events to pass through to another layer and you can stop using all of the built-in tools like ObjectDataSource because they're difficult to test. You can throw Dependency Injection everywhere and subclass everything (just in case) and essentially force the framework to be better in spite of itself.
But doesn't it make more sense to simply switch to a framework that is a better fit for what you need?
Those of you that have given Rails a shot know exactly what I mean. Those of you that haven't tried it out on anything significant probably think I'm an idiot. Or maybe you're just hooked on the money.
At work, I'm fighting a losing battle to encourage Rails. We have a significant investment in ASP.Net talent, IP and codebases so it only makes sense to use Rails where appropriate. But I'm surprised at the level of objection that I'm facing towards using something like Rails even for fringe projects. To me, that's a short-sighted business decision and has probably got me a little fired up about this topic.
Reading a Scott Bellware article doesn't help either. I respect the opinions of Scott and a couple of the other CodeBetter guys so it makes me a bit more stubborn about Rails when I hear them talking about the same things.
Drop me a line and let me know if you think I'm an idiot. I look forward to any opportunity to change your mind. :)