Requires *bigger better faster more* for the same darn thing you could do before.
That's not really true. I couldn't code this quickly or efficiently before so that's an improvement, isn't it?
And with GDI+, the Windows applications programmer has far more power at his fingertips than ever before. Contrasting .NET to something like MFC or the earlier APIs is night and day. A complete turn around. .NET is a great stride into the future.