Let me answer your questions one by one ...
..NET based apps when compiled are only slightly larger than the sourcecode
itself. Plus they donot rely very heavily on registry like old time COM apps
did. It takes an average of 600 ms to load a COM DLL, compared with about 15
ms for a .NET assembly (average times). Not to mention, .NET can use
advanced techniques like caching and enterprise services to make your
applications faster and more reliable. Also, as a hardcore coder myself, I
can tell you, .NET is a much more productive platform, so the quality of
code I can churn out on .NET versus VC++ ; .NET is hands down better. Better
code quality usually means better everything.
Programs using .NET runtime COULD and MAY include the runtime, but the
runtime is 20ish MB and many programs out there assume it is installed, to
a) Reduce the download, and b) It is a valid assumption since
windowsupdate.microsoft.com recommends you install it, plus longhorn will
have .NET framework prepackaged into it.
Aspx pages are not the only thing that use the .NET framework. Search for
Notepad++ and Paint.NET and those are small programs that one person wrote
in his/her free time.
..NET rocks, by all means install it.
- Sahil Malik
You can reach me thru my blog at
http://www.dotnetjunkies.com/weblog/sahilmalik