Why ASP.NET is like Progressive Rock

I like Progressive Rock.  There, I've said it.  All out in the open now - nothing to be embarrassed about.

So I was quite amused last year when we were asked to develop an internal, bespoke application called Genesis.  What I didn't realise at the time was just how the development of the application would mirror the history of the group Genesis. The application was my first foray into many new techniques such as MVP (with web forms), IoC, NHibernate etc.  Here's how it went:

 

The Group	The Application
The Gabriel Years
Something different! A strange front-man (Gabriel) backed by some brilliant musicians (Banks, Phillips, Hackett) creating something new and exciting.	Something different! A strange front-end (MVP with webforms) backed by some brilliant technologies (NHibernate, Windsor) creating something new and exciting.
The Hackett Years
The front-man was a bit too eccentric and difficult, so Collins steps up to the mic.  The rest of the band really gel and produce some of their best music of their career.	The front-end was a bit too eccentric and difficult to maintain, so simple webforms are back in the frame.  The rest of the technologies really gel and produce the best development experience of the project
The Collins Years
The new front-man starts to dominate and it all starts to become familiar and mainstream.  The other two (Banks, Rutherford are still going strong but their contribution seems to get overlooked.	The webforms front-end is starting to dominate development with bugs and it's all starting to feel familiar and mainstream.  Windsor and NHibernate still going strong but I keep forgetting they are there as there are so few bugs.
Calling All Stations
Oh dear.  A brief flirtation with a new front-man.  He's quite good in his own right, but not really the man to replace Collins in this group.	A brief flirtation with Monorail.  It's great for new projects but it's too much effort to replace Webforms in this project.
The Present
Collins, Banks, Rutherford ticking along quite nicely - know what they're good at and quite happy to settle for a pay cheque at the end of the day.	Webforms, NHibernate and Windsor ticking along quite nicely and quite happy to release at the end of the day.
The Future
Definitely past it, and time to move on to fresh blood such as Frost*	Webforms are definitely past it and time to move on to Monorail/ASP.NET MVC