> terrible ecosystem
.NET is a fantastic ecosystem. Has a decent build and dependency system (NuGet, dotnet run/build, declarative builds in XML). Massive standard library, with a consistent and wide focus on correctness, ergonomics, and performance across the board.
You can write everything in many languages, all on the same runtime: business logic in C#; hot paths interfacing with native libraries in C++/CLI; shell wrappers in PowerShell, document attachments with VB, data pipelines in F#.
I feel more people should use it, or at least try it, but sadly it is saddled with the perception that it is Windows-only, which hasn't been true for a decade (also, IMO, not necessarily a negative, because Windows is a decent OS, sue me).
> but sadly it is saddled with the perception that it is Windows-only, which hasn't been true for a decade
In my experience it does not work very well outside of the sanctioned Linux distributions. Quirky heisenbugs and nonsensical crashes made it virtually unusable for me on Void. I doubt that's changed in the years that have since passed.
> not necessarily a negative, because Windows is a decent OS
Is a language runtime worth an operating system? I think that's a paradigm we left behind in the 1970s when the two were effectively inseperable (and interwoven with hardware!) I wouldn't expect someone to swap to using a Unix system because they really want a better Haskell experience.
I just don't see any actual interesting or meaningful reasons to care about .NET, I effectively feel the same way about it that I do about Go. Just not something that solves any problem I have, and doesn't have anything that interests me. Although effectively I did try it, so it's a moot point considering that's one of the outcomes you're wishing for.