ASP.NET WebForms versus ASP.NET MVC

 
100   96.6
Feb 11, 2010
 
This is not so much a critique on a project but more of a reflection on the ongoing discussions between the above-mentioned ASP.NET platforms.

After reading Scott Gu's blog on Technical Debates I have to think that Microsoft may have opened yet another Pandora's box with MVC. 

We have seen this before:
  • With VB and VB.NET. Microsoft was standing by VB, but clearly VB.NET is the winner.
  • With C# and VB.NET. Again, Microsoft is standing by VB.NET, but percentage-wise C# is the clear winner (yes, I know that there still is a lot of VB.NET work out there).
Today, we have a similar situation with ASP.NET WebForms and ASP.NET MVC. Microsoft is strongly supporting WebForms, but from what I can tell, the industry has already decided. Not many new ASP.NET projects (notice new) will go the WebForms route. I also see this in the intense interest in MVC at our local .NET User group.

Perhaps all this is just healthy competition?  In fact, it is somewhat by design; Microsoft's product teams are fairly independent and essentially compete with one another. It's survival of the fittest and sofar MVC appears 'more fit' than WebForms.

Thoughts?



380   99.9
Feb 15, 2010
I would say both are equally good but catering to two different development models. As you know, ASP.NET MVC was designed to support design-driven, test-driven, contract-first scenarios and it enforces pattern implementation. This might attract non-ASP.NET web developers too towards ASP.NET while making WebForms fans happy. Compared to WebForms, MVC does not enjoy extensive tooling support.

My 2c.