It feels like .NET focuses primarily on the library and language side of things. In C# you can write surprisingly low-level optimized code. See the introduction

It feels like .NET focuses primarily on the library and language side of things. In C# you can write surprisingly low-level optimized code. See the introduction of Span<T> for instance: https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/archive/msdn-magazine/2018/january/csharp-all-about-span-exploring-a-new-net-mainstay https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/archive/msdn-magazine/2018/.... Or huge lists of improvements such as https://devblogs.microsoft.com/dotnet/performance-improvements-in-net-5/ https://devblogs.microsoft.com/dotnet/performance-improvemen.... This is in contrast to the JVM where Java is showing its age, but mountains of work poured into the JVM keep it performant: OpenJ9 and Hotspot, Project Loom, Zero GC, as well as big non-Oracle investment such as Shenandoah GC contributed by Redhat, etc.