After years mastering Aspnet webforms I recently decided to try out ASpnet MVC. Naturally my first action was to google 'Aspnet webforms vs Aspnet MVC'. I hoped to get an honest comparison of the two development techniques and guidelines on when to use which one.

..But I was completely turned off by the MVC proponents. In almost every post on the net comparing the two 'platforms' the MVC camp is simply bashing webform developers like me. They go on and on about how wrong and stupid using webforms is. As if what we have been doing the past decade has been pointless - all those websites built(& still running), all those clever controls, the mighty gridview..ALL POINTLESS !

Karl Seguin especially with his stupid webforms rant really turned me off. If his intention was to convert people like me he did the oposite and made me defensive. If anything I am now convinced that the webforms approach is better. consider the following

1. All the critical shortcomings of aspnet webforms have now been Addressed in visual studio 2010 with Aspnet 4.0.- Cleaner html, cleaner control IDs, friendly urls, leaner viewstate etc
2. Why would any one want to implement the mighty gridview and other wonderful controls from scratch ? In MVC you have to do this yourself because ABSTRACTION IS PLAIN STUPID- Instead of writing loops why not just code using 1s and 0s then?
3. A stateless web is a WEAKNESS so why would anyone want to get rid of viewstate? Everyone would like a better implementation but getting rid of it is a step backwards not forward.
4. Unit testing is great but not a critical requirement for most web projects.
5. I thought inline codes were dead with asp. But now they are back and fashionable - Thanks to MVC. I dont know about you people but codebehind was REVOLUTIONARY.
6. Ive had the Ajax Update panel do so many wonderful things without writing a line of code so why demonise it? Ive succesfully implemented a chat client, IM client and Status bar using nothing but the update panel and script manager.Ofcourse you cant use it for everything but most of the time its appropriate.
7. And finally the last word from JQUERY - 'Write less do more !' - That's what webforms is all about !

So Am I the only who still believes in webforms(and it getting better as Aspnet 4.0 has shown) or will it be dead and gone a few years from now like asp? I mean if inline coding is 'the future' why not just switch to PHP !