... is that is is used so widely now, it is going to have all of its common parts in memory well before yours application uses it, at least on Windows. So if I use it, it's not like I'm making the user suddenly load its bloated self up. People using Mono probably won't be in that situation.

I hate to say it, but the "throw more hardware at the problem" approach actually makes sense and saves money in many cases, especially when an application is nohwere near maxing out the box it is running on. Tradeoff... moving the development to C++ when C++ developers cost an arm and a leg and C++ is insanely difficult to write safely? Or use .Net or Java, with much cheaper developers and the full airbags and seatbelts on the code? And the C++ developers *might* get a 5% optimization over .Net or Java in most cases? If I'm writing code for Google's data center, yes, the native code approach makes sense. If I'm writing the in-house employee time clock Web application, .Net or Java makes sense.

J.Ja