How well does .NET scale? [closed]

Question

(I'll begin by making it clear, I am not a .NET developer and am not tied to any other environment.)

Recently, I heard that the London Stock Exchange went down for an entire day. I've also heard that the software was written in .NET. Up to this point they would experience performance hits on busy days. People seem to be blaming .NET.

I don't want to debate the story, but it brought to mind the question of just how does .NET scale? How big is too big for .NET?

Answer 1

Honestly, I think it boils down to code optimization, apart from just the infrastructure.

In StackOverflow Podcast 19, Jeff discussed about how they had to tweak SQL Server to handle the kinds of loads StackOverflow has; notice that it was not .NET that needed tweaking here.

One also has to note that MySpace.com, one of the most massive social networks out there, runs on ASP.NET.

The MySpace use of ASP.NET alone is a testament to its scalability. It will boil down to how developers will write their applications in such a way that best leverages that capability.