I think it is amusing how some are bashing C#, considering how languages just like it (and Java) were invented for the very reason to illeviate the headaches of C++. 
Producitivity is worth more than performance - even Sweeney himself has said so.
Not that performance is a huge problem anymore, considering how technology compiling byte code to machine code equally fast as C++ is maturing and making its way into the pipeline of development tools.