OK, so turn it around ... why do you guys consider size of executable and speed of initial execution to be good benchmarks of progress, rather than increasing programmer productivity (which .NET excels at)? I think it all depends on what you consider to be progress.
Me getting more (and better quality) code written in less time means progress to me. And with a compiler that is loaded onto the end users machine and can be updated over time to be faster and smaller, my code will automatically benefit as it will be recompiled on the users machine with each update of said compiler.
.NET programs are not slow if they are coded correctly. It's an API and programmers will have to spend time learning it to get the most out of it. Just like with any other API to date. Nothing is free.
As for the precompiling, remember that it's only doing that -once-. The first time the app is run. It's not even an issue.
Me getting more (and better quality) code written in less time means progress to me. And with a compiler that is loaded onto the end users machine and can be updated over time to be faster and smaller, my code will automatically benefit as it will be recompiled on the users machine with each update of said compiler.
.NET programs are not slow if they are coded correctly. It's an API and programmers will have to spend time learning it to get the most out of it. Just like with any other API to date. Nothing is free.
As for the precompiling, remember that it's only doing that -once-. The first time the app is run. It's not even an issue.