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 diligently. You'll likely have a product that's really good at rapidly prototyping applications inside a consultancy. What about people who aren't language-specific consultancy developers? Well if you have a similar use-case you'll surely be happy!
Meteor and Rails strike me as Apples and Oranges - Rails is a general purpose framework that assumes a separation of systems between client and server (And optionally separation between server and database if you forgo Active Record). Meteor assumes you want a tightly coupled, real-time, rich JavaScript web application.
The author assumes Sauce for the Goose is sauce for the gander... but judging by the lack of ASP.NET around here I'm not sure that's the case.
As someone that's been building high traffic applications on ASP.net for 11 years I generally stay out of threads like this. There is a ton of ill-informed (and more often than not blatantly false) asp.net bashing that goes on on this site. I see so much of it I generally just roll my eyes instead of hitting the reply button.
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.
