.Net will LIVE ON!...So if you think it's gonna die...DREAM ON!
Haha....NET is the future as far as I am concern and can see, currently with regards to business application development.
As for x64 at this time it is HIGHLY overrated and it wont be very popular until the next few years if it does become popular...and by then .NET would have definitely progressed even more..
Like one of the posters said you cant bash M$ for nothing...whether you want to accept it or not M$ rules most computer user's systems from the OS to the Chat program to the browser to the Office Suites and other applications to the Application Development Platform :-D
Just for the record I'm primarily a MAC OS user however, when it comes to software development and making money...Rock on M$!
I'm nearing millionaire status and you know what is largely responsible for it??...Microsoft Technologies (OS, Applications etc.) and nowadays .NET!
Hell