>One essential difference is that instead of just a "browser" and a (small) Java VM (Virtual Machine) running on the Client side, you now also need the .NET CLR (Common Language Runtime) and approximately 30 MB of DLLs (ie. the "Framework") to support it. <

True, but starting with the next version of Windows the CLR support libraries will be installed as part of Windows. So the user won't need to do anything and there won't be any runtime hit waiting for DLLs to download to the workstation.

Mike