> I think the difference here is that C# (and the .NET platform) was never meant to completely replace C/C++ Win32 development

Oh no, it was meant to replace them. Win32 was going to be deprecated, all new stuff would be on native .NET APIs, there'd be a Windows Presentation Foundation and a Windows Filesystem and it'd all be great.

The thing is that Longhorn fell apart, and with it the dream of replacing Win32 died forever.

Now we have WinRT, but unlike the plans for Longhorn, WinRT actually sits on top of Win32.